Promises
by explxcit
Summary: "I think everyone who works with her, and everyone who brushes shoulders with her, or even makes eye contact with her, gets a shot of sunshine."
1. Prologue

** Promises: A New Beginning**

_After shutting his locker Peter quickly ran to class, just barely making it a few minutes after the bell rang. He stumbled into the room with his bag hanging over his right shoulder, books spilling out of his arms._

_The teacher's hand paused for a moment while she was writing notes on the board, glancing to the door as he walked in, "Mr. Parker, tardy again?" She turned around, holding her chalk in her hands as she watched the boy make his way to his seat, "Well at least we can always count on you."_

_Peter threw his bag down next to him, shifting in his seat to make himself comfortable. He flicked his eyes back up to meet hers, "Sorry Mrs. Ritter it won't happen again, I promise." Peter looked back down at the desk, trying his best to keep his gaze from lingering it's way up to look at the girl in front of him._

_Mrs. Ritter __smiled softly before turning back to the board, pausing for a moment to speak, "Don't make promises you can't keep Mr. Parker."_

_Peter's lips curved into a smirk once the teacher began writing on the board again. He leaned forward on his forearms slightly, licking his lips before whispering into the blonde girl's ear, "Yeah.. but those are the best kind."_

_Gwen's eyes quickly snapped up from her notebook to the board in front of her, her frown slowly turning into a small smile._

* * *

It has only been two months since he last spoke with Gwen. _Only._ That word rang through his head, what had only been a few month felt like years.

He missed her, he missed her voice. He missed hearing her whisper his name while they kissed, he missed her overuse of big words in her vocabulary, the passion in her voice whenever she talked about science, and most of all he missed the 'I love you's.

They had every class together so it's not like he hadn't seen her, in fact he saw her every day. Every time she walks into class with her knee high boots and adorable little sweaters he can feel his heart skip a beat, and each time she sits down in front of him he practically chokes on how fast he sucks in air before he ends up holding his breath for what feels like forever.

Every night he makes his way over to the same apartment complex, same floor, and same window that seems to always be open incase he showed up. He always props himself up on the fire-escape just a few feet away from the glass that's separating him from what he came there for. Thankfully the building was almost directly in the middle of the city, so he knew every time it was time for him to get into action; which is why he always came in his suit. He hides in the small shadows of the building at night just to watch the petite little blonde girl studying or reading one of her favorite books.

He loves seeing her facial expression change whenever something happens in one of those novels that she loves so much. Recently he's noticed her eyes gazing hungrily at the pages of Nathaniel Hawthorne's _The Scarlet Letter._

As creepy as it sounds, he even knows her routine by heart. She's always leaving for dinner, finishing her homework, taking a shower, and going to bed at the same time. Sometimes he even catches her eyes glancing out the window, as if she was hoping he would show up.

It's not like he doesn't want to just go over to her window and tap on the glass, hoping when she sees who it is that her lips curve into the smile that he hasn't seen in what seems like forever. Trust me _he does_, but every time he decides to give it a shot he hears that same voice that has been repeating in his head since the accident. -

* * *

_He ran over to the man laying on the ground, almost in shock at the pool of blood on his stomach. He quickly put his hand on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. Instantly lifting his head as the man spoke, seeing the painful expression on his face as he tried to sit up. "You need to be gone wh - when they get here."_

_He gritted his teeth together and shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed at the sight in front of him. "I'm not going anywhere."_

_"I was wrong about you," he paid close attention as the captain continued, raising his eyebrows slightly as Mr. Stacy spoke, "this city needs you." The man lifted up an unbelievably damaged red mask, handing it over to the boy, "Here.. you're gonna need this."_

_He was breathing heavy, trying to put together everything that was happening at the moment. Almost in complete shock at what was happening, he paused before slowly taking the mask and holding it in his hand. He looked away from the dying police captain in front of him and down at the piece of red spandex in his hand, clenching it in his fist as the captain continued._

_"You're gonna make enemies," he sucked in air slightly, trying to fight against the pain in his stomach before meeting the teenager's gaze, "people are gonna get hurt.. sometimes people closest to you. So I want you to promise me something, okay?" he asked the boy who immediately nodded his head. Then the captain continued slowly, making sure that the sixteen year old in front of him understood completely, "__**Leave Gwen out of it.**__"_

_Listening to this made the boy quickly look away, his eyebrows seeming to mesh into one with how hard they were furrowed. Tears quickly came to his eyes but he held them back, sniffing slightly as the image of the man blurred in front of him from the salty tears. He tried his best not to blink and let them spill over. He nodded, promising Gwen's father that he'd stay away from her before his breathing started slowing down. And before he knew it, George Stacy's head fell back slowly and he felt his heart stop._

* * *

- Just five little words and he knew right then that he was going to regret agreeing with the man. But what could he do? The man was dying for God's sake, his dying wish was that he'd stay away from his daughter and if that's what it was then that's what he'd do. After all, it was his fault that the police captain was dead. He is the one that gave Curt Conners that fucking equation that made the idea of becoming a giant lizard possible. So he nodded his head and promised the dying police officer that he would keep her out of his life. It was his fault Gwen's father was dead and there was nothing he could do about it except stay away.

So it's two months later and here he was, completely miserable without his love and best friend. Swinging left and right from building to building on his bio-cables that he somehow invented himself. His phone had went off just a few minutes earlier, he was already in his suit and ready to go before the police scanner that he programmed into his cell phone barely finished giving the report. In seconds he was already out and ready to follow the police cars speeding down the busy streets of New York.

Being Spider-man was amazing, minus the fact it was the reason he wasn't able to be with Gwen, but besides that it pretty much allowed him to do whatever he wanted. (Well, only if his Aunt May didn't notice him leaving in the middle of the night or the multiple bruises all over his body.) But other than that he loved who he was. This new identity made him feel alive and powerful, like he was made to be Spider-man. His purpose was to save innocent people and that was a responsibility he took seriously. That was something Uncle Ben had taught him before he was murdered, if you could do good things for other people than you had a moral obligation to do those things. And that's what he was going to do, protecting the city was his responsibility.

Sometimes he did get hurt though, sometimes too badly. His ability to heal faster than humanly possible was probably the only reason he hadn't died yet. He used to go to Gwen, he would show up at her window and she'd be there in seconds helping him inside, but he couldn't do that anymore. There were days he had to lay low, after all, he was just a kid.

That's exactly what Peter Parker was, just a boring teenage kid that was always late to his classes. Nobody knew who Spider-man was behind the mask, nobody would guess that it was just a seventeen year old who had saved the entire city a month ago. The only person who knew was, of course, Gwen. That was the only person who understood exactly who he was. The only human being in the entire world who he could talk to about anything and now that was taken away from him.

Peter Parker was _always_ going to be in love with Gwen Stacy. She took his breath away the first time he saw her walk into biology, he knew he loved her from the moment her eyes met his. Ever since that small smile and little wave she gave him before taking the desk in front of him, he knew he was hooked. Ever since that first day of eighth grade Peter has never seen a girl as beautiful as his girl. Except she was no longer his girl, because _he_ left.

After scanning the streets for the blue and red police sirens that he knew all too well, Spider-man followed before finding the source of the problem. _Of course, another car robbery_. The boy in the red and blue suit rolled his eyes before taking a big leap and flipping over the truck that was following closely behind the speeding car. He plopped down on the hood of the car, making a small dent as the man inside turned his head to see the face of the well known superhero looking back at him.

"Hey, get out of here wall-crawler!" the man shouted, quickly glancing back and forth from the hero outside his window and the street in front of him. His eyes seemed to grow wider with fear each time they met where Peter's were under the mask.

Peter leaned completely down on the top of the car before bringing his fist back and slamming it into the window, swiftly grabbing the man before he had time to let out a yell once he heard the shattering glass. Yanking the criminal out of the car, Spider-man grabbed him with both arms before throwing him up in between the street signs and lights. He quickly released some of the bio-cable webbing from his wrist, making sure the man landed on the almost perfect made 'hammock' waiting for him in between the two poles. Twenty feet off the ground was the car-jacker, hanging helplessly as three police cars surrounded him with the officers' guns pointing in his direction.

Before the police-men had time to turn around, the stolen car was already parked on a side way halfway down the block as they watched Spider-man disappear behind a building swinging on that web of his.


	2. Chapter 001

**Chapter One**

Peter's alarm went off causing his eyes to slowly open before squinting at the ceiling out of annoyance. He immediately swung his arm over, totally smashing the beeping object next to him. He laid there for a moment after removing his fist from the pile of crushed plastic, until he rolled over and buried his face completely into the pillow as he groaned. _I swear if somebody had asked me what I'd rather be doing, sitting through another day of school or fighting a mutant lizard? Honestly, I'd say the lizard._

It was Monday. His least favorite day of the week, except for Thursday. God, did Peter hate Thursdays.

Monday, a new school week. A whole week of sitting behind Gwen in almost every class. Another five days of doing his best to keep himself from dragging her into the nearest closet and kissing her cute little face all over. Thirty-five hours worth of being so close yet so far from the one he loves.

Peter slid his hands up lazily until they reached his sides to push himself off up the bed. Slowly, he got up; dragging his feet as he made his way to the bathroom. Peter had barely gotten any sleep the previous night, actually he barely got any sleep ever. There was always some issue going on downtown that was in need of the help of Spider-man. He rarely got a good four hours of sleep, let alone eight like normal kids his age. After reaching the bathroom, Peter rubbed his tired eyes and shut the door behind him.

Only minutes after getting in, Peter was already finished with his morning routine. Although he was tired, he was still superhuman and finished everything he did almost instantaneously. With nothing left to do but get dressed, Peter stepped back into his room; frowning at the piles of dirty clothes scattered all over the floor. _I am an absolutely slob, Aunt May would drop dead at the sight of this. _He dug his hands through the stacks, looking for the cleanest and most appropriate item of clothing he could find. He quickly threw on a white t-shirt and pair of jeans before slipping into the same jacket he's worn almost every day since his Aunt May bought it for him. That's probably the reason why it was his favorite, even though it had a few holes and spots where it was wearing away at the green material, Peter still loved it.

He ran a hand through his long, tousled hair to make it somewhat tidier than it previously was. Peter grabbed his bag and hung it over his shoulder before turning to head downstairs, where he remembered the little pile of a smashed alarm clock that rested on his night stand. He swiftly turned around and grabbed the barely recognizably item, throwing it into a pile in the corner of his room. Peter was already out of his bedroom door by time it landed with the remains of his previous alarm clocks. Once he made his way to the top of the stairs, he slipped into his old, torn nikes and ran down the stairs - almost knocking over his aunt on the way to the kitchen.

"You're going to be late again, Peter!" His aunt yelled over her right shoulder before continuing up the stairs. She paused as she rested her hand on the door knob of her room, "I left your breakfast on the table!"

Peter stopped as he was almost fully out the door, quickly backing up until he reached the table. He ignored the assortment of eggs and sausage links once he grabbed the toast to shove into his mouth. He ran back out the door, barely yelling a muffled 'thank you' to his aunt as he chewed the rest of the bread.

Peter didn't have a car, and honestly he didn't need one. Besides his skateboard, his favorite form of transportation was much more fun, and quicker anyways. Once he reached the corner of his street, Peter ran down an alley. He looked around to make sure he was entirely alone before shooting his web to sling himself forward. He kept his hood up as he made his way towards his school, making certain that he only went behind abandoned alley ways and buildings until he reached the one he was looking for.

Only twenty feet away did he hear the warning bell ring, which made Peter groan in frustration as he ran faster, now sprinting into the front doors. He kept going until he reached his desired room, frowning to himself as he looked at the bronze plate that read 204 on the top of the door frame. He barely made it in when the first period bell rang above him.

"Peter Parker, only a second late. This is a new record for you," the dark skinned teacher said, not bothering to turn around to face Peter as he continued drawing a model on the white board.

Gwen glanced up once she heard a familiar name, causing Peter to quickly shift his gaze to the floor as he walked past her - he made sure that his eyes wouldn't meet hers before he plopped himself down into the chair. "Sorry Mr. B, traffic was killer."

This made Gwen scoff slightly under her breath; she knew Peter didn't have a car, and she knew exactly how he got to school too. She shook her head slightly, making Peter look up from the wooden desk in front of him. He couldn't keep himself from staring at her. The way her ponytail swayed back and forth, how she kept tapping her pencil on the side of her desk to help concentrate, or how every now and then she shifted her shoulders. As if she could feel his stare burning into the back of her head.

He was lost in thought by time the bell rang, which caused him to jump in his seat slightly. Which was surprisingly a lot for a superhero that barely flinched at the sight of a mutant. Peter had been day dreaming about sleep and focusing on keeping his eyes open for so long he hadn't even taken more than a few sentences worth of notes. He frowned at the sloppy handwriting on his paper before slamming his notebook shut.

"I copied them for you," Peter's eyes widened as he looked up at the cheeky blonde in front of him, holding out a few pieces of paper full of notes. He kept his eyes locked on her, wondering what to say or do next until she interrupted his thoughts with a barely audible _ahem_. He must have been staring for awhile because she began to shift her feet awkwardly, "I know you didn't ask but I - uh, thought I'd help you out a little." Gwen laughed nervously and set the papers down in front of him before turning to walk away.

Peter shook his head slightly to himself before quickly standing up and grabbing the papers off his desk, "No I - I'm sorry," She swiftly turned around, raising her eyebrows slightly at what he said until Peter continued, "for ignoring you for a sec there, I mean. Thank you for the notes, that was really sweet of you. It means a lot." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he looked up at her with his big, brown eyes.

Gwen hugged her books to her chest as she nodded her head, "Of course." She brought her hand up to push a loose strand of hair back behind her little black headband.

After standing there staring at the ground silently, the both of them continued at the same time, interrupting one another.

"Look, I'm-"

"Anyways I guess-"

Peter looked up at her once they both stopped, "What was that?"

"I was gonna say that I guess I should be going," Gwen swung her foot lightly as she spoke, "I'm late already anyways."

Peter frowned once she finished. He didn't want her to go. Although they've only said a few sentences to each other, it was the most he's talked to her since the accident. He never realized exactly how much he missed her until now, which caused his heart to drop in his stomach at the thought of another two months without her voice. "Hey, we both have history next so how about I.. I mean I could walk you to class - if you wanted me too.." Peter trailed off, realizing how stupid he must have sounded. He mentally slapped himself for offering, he promised to stay away from her and here he was.. already wanting to walk her to class. _I mean, it's just a friendly offer, right? Not like I'm asking her to stop by the broom closet for a make-out session or anything._ Peter tried to reassure himself in his head, although his argument didn't sound very convincing.

It was weird to think that only a month ago he could talk to Gwen about anything, now it's like nothing ever happened between them and Peter hated that. More than anything.

Gwen pulled at the sleeves of her little blue sweater as a small smile crept onto her lips, "Yeah.. yeah, that'd be nice." She looked up at him as she bit down on her bottom lip gently, digging her tooth into the skin as she began walking down the deserted hallway. Gwen turned around, sending Peter an encouraging smile and motioned in front of her with her shoulder as she faced the front again.

The corners of Peter's mouth turned up into an amused grin as he began following her; just the sight of her smiling at him gave him the best feeling he's felt in a while. He started jogging slightly as he made his way to catch up to her, chuckling softly under his breath as old memories started flooding his mind.

"What is there that's so funny, Parker?" Gwen turned to look up at him as she continued forward, raising an eyebrow as she emphasized his last name.

Peter grasped the strap of his bag as his gaze shifted to the floor, he was a bit taken back by the question which made him pause before he spoke. "I - uh -" He snapped his head up to look at her, quickly changing the subject as he focused on her face, "What have you been up to?"

It's not like Peter just said that so he didn't have to state out loud how he just reminisced on moments in their past relationship - although it was a very important contributing factor - but he really did want to know what she's been doing in her spare time. He knew what she did at night since he just _happened_ to slip by her window every night to check up on her, but he didn't know what she was up to on the nights she did go out. And he was curious. He was curious if she still worked at OsCorp, if she had a found interest in a new guy, if she's applied to any one of those colleges she's been dreaming about for years, or if she found interest in a new guy.

Okay, he was mostly curious if she had found interest in a new guy.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh before she spoke, "Honestly? Nothing," Hearing this made Peter furrow his eyebrows, he didn't know whether to feel some sort of relief or feel worried because Gwen Stacy never does 'nothing'. Gwen Stacy is always busy with extra-curricular activities. Gwen Stacy is never one to have free time. Peter paid close attention as she continued, "I've just been focusing on my grades I guess.. there's not much to do anymore. Just to study, study, study."

Peter felt guilt creeping back up to him, _what if it's because of the.. yanno?_ he asked himself, staying silent as he thought of all the possibilities. He immediately felt regret for the past few weeks, _you ditched her. You fucking ditched her within fourty-eight hours of losing her dad. You are an idiot. _He frowned before turning to look away from her, unable to face her with the images of her crying on his front porch flashing through his mind. She told him that she needed him that day, and his reply was that he just couldn't do it anymore.

The two continued to walk next to each other in complete silence as they turned down left down the 300 hallway. _Why would you leave someone like that? You've been sitting here feeling sorry for yourself like an idiot while she was grieving over the death of her __**dad**__._

Just a few doors down from their history class, there were screams that could be heard from the south wing of the school, making both of them whip their heads around.

Peter's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to listen closely for the exact place of the screaming students. He looked at Gwen, who was staring at him with her blue eyes filled with worry, and he flashed her a sympathetic look. _Now I know why._

Before she had a chance to blink, Peter already disappeared around the corner; his shoes and clothes laying on the floor next to Gwen. Only it wasn't Peter Parker jumping out of the nearest window, it was Spider-man slinging himself from the top story with his bio-cables attached to the side of the building to get to the other end of the school faster. Standing there still stunned, Gwen exhaled out of her nose heavily before muttering under her breath.

"Oh boy."


	3. Chapter 002

**Chapter Two**

It had been a little over a week since Gwen last spoke to Peter, and honestly, she was disappointed. More than that, she was frustrated. For the past month Gwen had made plenty of failed attempts at getting him to talk to her again. She was on the verge of giving up when he offered to walk her to her class - although they were heading to the same room so she didn't understand why she kept thinking of hidden meanings behind that small gesture. It was like she was in middle school all over again, examining every aspect of their conversation to see if there was more.

And she just happened to get nothing. There was not one thing she could find that would mean just a short walk was anything more than friendly.

Gwen was also a bit troubled; sad that his duties kept him from her once again. They couldn't even finish a casual conversation without someone needing the help of Peter's alter-ego, Spider-man. What makes it even worse was that there wasn't anybody needing him, it was a false alarm, just some clumsy girls in the gymnasium. Gwen cursed the uncoordinated cheerleader under her breath for loosing her grip and causing the whole team to fall from their triangle.

If only that stupid, stupid promise that withheld Peter from Gwen was nonexistent. If only he hadn't been so loyal and devoted to her father's wishes, then maybe everything wouldn't be so complicated between the two. But Gwen understood - her father wanted to keep her out of harm's way. That's all George wanted was for his daughter to be safe, and to him that meant not having any relations with the masked hero.

But just the thought of Peter agreeing to that senseless pledge of keeping Gwen out of his life completely irked her more than anything. It wasn't their life or their choices, it was _hers_. If Gwen was authorized to pick out her own clothes in the morning, then surely she should be allowed to choose whoever she wanted to love. She wasn't some fragile, little girl that needed to be guarded all hours of the day anymore. All she wanted was to be able to make her own decisions; she shouldn't be held back from being the intelligent young woman that she was just because the path she was on wasn't entirely safe.

But Peter didn't show any signs of concern with how Gwen felt anymore, and she was getting tired of trying to make him get a look on her side of the story. Which is why she had finally decided to give all of her attention to school and work; she needed to move on. She _had _to get her mind off of Peter.

She tapped her pencil against the counter repeatedly, the sound of the wood hitting the marble echoing through the empty lab as she concentrated on the chemistry textbook in front of her. Gwen usually spent her Friday's late at Oscorp, using the extra time after finishing her hours to do some homework in peace. The floor she worked on always cleared out around six in the afternoon on Friday's, she was surprised the elevators haven't broken down due to the eager workers crowding inside.

Don't get me wrong, Gwen still flinched every time she walked into the building that her father died on top of, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to get her job back. Although she was no longer head intern to Dr. Curt Conners, who had tried to turn the whole city into giant mutant lizards for crying out loud, she was offered a new position to work with Dominic Stone. She couldn't walk away from this spot, especially since they found her to be special enough to hire back after the Conners incident.

Dr. Stone and Gwen had been working on a new formula, they were no longer trying to regenerate limbs like her previous boss, but trying to clone organs and cells. This was Oscorp's new way of coming up with a solution to treating people with illnesses such as brain cancer. For example, if the host were to take the serum, they would be able to duplicate a new and healthy part of their brain in place of the undesirable and affected one - resulting in the host freed of the tumor.

Gwen had been studying and examining one of their new gray mice, Ace; who had received a rare type of liver disease, to learn how they could figure out a way to clone its liver before pulling out her homework. She's been operating on new serums and equations since she hesitantly accepted the job offer; trying to copy the liver of the other mouse, Annabelle. Their previous mice, Fred and Wilma, were no longer able to use once Dr. Conners injected Fred with the lizard serum which caused him to mutate into a new and repulsive species - also, to dine on Wilma.

All day the petite blonde had been slaving over her desk, switching from schoolwork and actual work every hour or so - thoughts of Peter slipping into her mind every now and then - until her phone alarm went off, signaling that it was time to head back home.

Gwen always headed out five minutes before ten o'clock on Friday's so that she wouldn't be in too late; not wanting to worry her mother or brothers. Especially since it had only been two months since her father passed away, so her family was still on edge. Her brother Howard, who was the oldest right behind Gwen, was always checking up on her or offering to babysit instead of making Gwen sit at home when she should be out enjoying herself. He feared for her, he feared that his sister cut off the world around her. She was a daddy's girl, and without her dad, Howard worried that she wouldn't ever recover.

Which Gwen couldn't blame him, although she'd never admit, she wasn't sure if she would either. Over the weeks Gwen's tears became less frequent, unlike the crying-fits she would have every night for the two weeks after the funeral. Not because she was getting used to it, but because she feels that she had run out of tears. There wasn't nearly enough of the salty liquid left in her.

After she slung her bag over her shoulder and collected her belongings, Gwen hastily made her way towards the elevator where she ran into someone, "Oh. OH, I am so sor-"

"No, no don't you worry it was all my fau- Gwen?" the tall boy - no wait - the tall _man _stopped once he caught gaze of the pair of bright blue eyes almost hidden behind her blonde bangs.

Gwen stopped once she realized who was standing in front of her, her eyes widening as her pursed lips curved into a large smile. "There is no way, I can't believe this, oh my - Ethan!" she beamed, causing the towering pile of books to almost slip from her grasp.

"Here let me help you with that.." Ethan offered after wiping his sandy colored hair out of his eyes before quickly reaching out to catch the toppling tower of textbooks. His smile growing wider as he held out the book for her to take.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly, still in shock at her childhood friend that she hasn't seen in years now standing before her. "I just can't believe.. what are you doing here?" Gwen asked, tilting her head slightly to get the bangs out of her eyes.

Gwen was overjoyed at the sight of her old friend, she hadn't seen Ethan in years and now he just showed up; she didn't know how to react and all she could do was smile. She used to spend countless hours playing with him on the playgrounds in elementary school, and now here he was all grown up and in college. Ethan and Gwen hit it off every since she switched into his third grade class, until he left near the end of her fifth grade year, moving all the way to South Carolina with his family.

"I'm the new custodian, to help pay off my college tuition yanno.." he kicked the ground slightly, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment before he continued, "but I could be asking you the same thing."

Gwen smiled softly, now piecing it together by seeing his name written on the left of his chest and the rag hanging out of his back pocket. "I work here, I'm the new senior research officer for Dr. Stone," she explained quickly before reaching an arm out to touch his in excitement, "but you're in college now? That's so great Ethan, I'm so happy for you!"

Ethan shrugged slightly, grinning at her enthusiasm. "You know if I wasn't on the job and it wasn't so late, I'd offer to take you out for coffee so we could catch up but.."

"Tuesday then," Gwen happily offered, "at break we'll meet up and head down to the cafe down the street." Regardless of the fact that she absolutely hates coffee, Gwen was eager to hear all about him and why he was back in New York.

Ethan quickly nodded as he chuckled, "Sounds great, I'll see you then right?"

"Of course.. but I should be going now. My mom is probably freaking out by now, but I'll see you Tuesday." Gwen pointed a thumb behind her shoulder before saying her goodbyes and turning around to make her way out the door. She quickly waved at her long-lost friend as the elevator doors closed between the two.

* * *

Once the taxi came to a stop in front of her building, Gwen quickly paid the driver and got out. Throwing her bag back over her shoulder, she quickly made her way up the front steps and through the door after giving the doorman a small smile and quick hello. After seeing an old friend at Oscorp, Gwen was anxious to get home and tell her mother all about it.

Back when Gwen met Peter and started getting more serious about her work at Oscorp she slowly grew apart from her friends - although they weren't much of friends, just some girls she saw five times a week that kept her updated on the 411 of who's with who and who did what. So now all she had was her mother, which kind of made Gwen glad. She liked having a close relationship with her parents - er - mom. She rarely lied to Helen Stacy or kept secrets, except for the obvious things that she kept to herself, so she knew that her mom was always someone she could go to.

Gwen practically ran to her apartment as soon as the elevator doors opened wide enough for her to slip through, causing her to almost trip over her own feet slightly as she fumbled through her bag for her keys. Once she heard the click of the door unlocking, Gwen rapidly slammed the door open yelling a series of 'mom's over and over until her mom came running out of her bedroom, eyes wide with worry.

"What's wrong, honey? Did something happen, what's going on?" Helen Stacy brought her hands up to grab her daughter's face, inspecting every inch of her before Gwen could catch her breath.

A smile spread across her face at the concerned look on her mother's face, "No no, mom I'm fine but guess what! Ethan - is - here!" She spoke the last three words in between deep breaths before finally relaxing.

Her mom's tense frame quickly eased at this before pulling Gwen into an embrace, "Aw sweetheart, that's so great! How long has he been here?"

Once the two of them settled down, Gwen seated over on a stool to relax next to the kitchen counter whilst her mom made warm tea for the both of them. (Her mother had started to look for the hot cocoa mix, but that immediately earned her a pained expression on her daughter's face and a small shake of her head.) Her last memories of drinking any of her favorite drink were with her father, just days before the Oscorp event.

She recalls doing her English essay on _A Tale of Two Cities _by Charles Dickens and how it affected American literature or something like that, until an unmasked Spider-man happened to knock on her window with three deep gashes across his chest from an encounter with the lizard. Gwen's excited grin slowly turned into a slight frown behind her mom while reminiscing on her most intimate night with Peter. She looks back to when she heard her father yelling that Howard had been making everybody hot cocoa, and how her and Peter scrambled to their feet as quickly as they could.

Gwen's pout curved up into a fake smile as her mother turned towards her, "Before you tell me more about your friend, I'm going to head to the restroom.. watch that pot." Helena gestured towards the bowl of boiling water on the stove as Gwen nodded in response.

Once her mother was out of sight, Gwen went back to reliving the scene where she had panicked and hastily ran to her door. "_No dad, I do not want any cocoa.. honestly, I am seventeen years old." _She had snapped the words at her father as she tried to hide the embarrassment of still having hot cocoa at her age from Peter, also having to keep that there was a banged up Spider-man sitting in her room from her dad.

_"Okay.. I just thought I remembered a certain somebody saying last week that her fantasy was to live in a chocolate house," _the memory of the police captain's words made Gwen's lips curve into a slight smile as tears begun to sting the back of her eyes.

_Gwen's eyes widened as her father spoke, exposing her most humiliating fantasy to her super-hero boyfriend who was resting only a few feet away in her room. "Well that's impractical!" she slammed the door instantly while her cheeks started heating up from the embarrassment, before swiftly swinging it back open to her shocked father standing before her, "And fattening!"_

The water on the stove began to boil over slightly as she started getting up to pour the water into two mugs. After looking back at Peter - who had completely made a fool out of her by mocking her chocolate house dream - she recollects the memory of blaming her attitude towards her father on cramps. The horrified look on George Stacy's face was enough to make anybody roll over laughing, which caused Gwen to giggle quietly to herself as she put the tea packets into their cups. She rested her forearms on the counter next to her as she relaxed, the images of Peter's adorable, widened grin bringing a smile to her face whilst shifting her eyes to the floor.

"Okay Gwendolyn, I'm back! Now tell me everything that happened, sweetheart." Gwen jumped as her mother made her way back into the room, who immediately grabbed her mug and leaned on the counter, waiting for her daughter to continue her story.

Gwen pushed the painful memories to the back of her mind before happily explaining the days events in detail to her mom.

* * *

After Gwen and her mother talked for a few more hours, Helen had decided it was time to head to bed before she placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead and said goodnight. Which Gwen had happily agreed to after being up since six the previous morning.

She was exhausted, she had spent all day working in the lab and getting overly excited over her re-encounter with her friend that by time she made it into her room its like her legs gave out. She threw herself back onto the bed and spread out, not caring that her legs were still hanging off the bed with her shoes and clothes still on. She let out a long sigh as she stared at the ceiling, debating whether or not she should call Peter.

_Of course.._ Gwen groaned, _my first instinct is to call him, how pitiful._ She practically spat the words at herself in her head as she remembered how she came to the conclusion to stop trying to speak with him only a few hours before. Gwen shook her head at herself in disappointment once she closed her eyes. Letting out another loud and over-exaggerated sigh before hearing a small sound come from the fire escape right outside her bedroom window, she whipped her head around; her whole body filling with hope as she got up and raced over to the window.

Gwen didn't know what to expect as she searched for the same red and blue suit that she's been thinking about for the past month as she threw her window open. She knew Peter had wanted nothing to do with her for the sake of her safety, so she doesn't know why she continued to let herself believe that just maybe he came to check up on her. She leaned out of it slightly, the hopefulness that the boy she's been longing for would be out there waiting for her. Gwen's eyes scanned the fire escape as her faithful smile quickly turned into a disappointing frown. _Figures._

Once Gwen turned her back towards the window, she caught a glimpse of a flash of red and blue fly past her apartment building out of the corner of her eye, which caused a faint grin to appear on her face.

* * *

**Quick author's note: **before joining this website I had the first three parts previously typed out on my computer for fun, until I decided to put them on here for everyone to enjoy. So now that the three are out, I decided to try and update at least once a week - if not twice. I know it's a little late, but this takes place after the first Amazing Spider-man movie before any events in the second. I'm still recovering from the ending in the sequel, I don't know why but I thought seeing it twice would might it a little easier on me but I stand corrected. Finally, thank you for reading this even if it's only this far into my story.


	4. Chapter 003

**Chapter Three**

"If you don't get out of here I swear I'll blow this pretty little red-head's brains out, along with yours!"

Spider-man chuckled to himself under his breath, "Yeah? With what gun?" He asked tauntingly before swiftly releasing bio-cable from his wrist, grabbing the pint-sized pistol and watching in amusement as it shattered against the brick wall. The tiny black pieces flew in all directions once it hit the opposite side of the abandoned alley - to the purse stealer's horror.

"H-how the hell.." The thief's eyes widened whilst he stuttered, his fear quickly turned into fury as his grip tightened on the petite girl's arm. "Just save yourself the extra time and beat it, kid!"

"You must be real tough beating on defenseless girls half you size, huh?" The teen hidden behind the mask crawled forward, his arachnid-like position perched on the side of the vacant building, only feet away from the pair.

Soft sobs could be heard from the young woman being held hostage by the fugitive as the two men disputed back and forth. She repeatedly threw punches at her kidnapper, only receiving sharp glares and sullen grunts in return. "Get off of me, you bastard! K-keep my bag, just let me go!" the red-head pleaded in between hiccups, which gained her nothing but an over exaggerated groan from the masked hero standing only a yard away.

"Yeah you heard her, let the girl go man." Peter hopped down from the wall and inched closer; only stopping once he noticed the rugged man's brawny hands lightly wrapped around the slender neck of his victim whilst he threatened to choke her.

The bulky felon growled whilst puffing out his chest, he tried to appear tough to the boy in red and blue, making him slightly resemble one of the New York City sky scrapers. His words were lined with hatred as they rolled off his tongue in something like a hiss, "Come on then buddy, why don't you take her from me?" As much as the mugger tried to hide any hints of fear in his tone, his voice quivered with self doubt while challenging the well-known superhero.

Within seconds, Spider-man already had the trembling girl out of the man's grasp; along with her extensive and pricey Michael Kors purse. Hugging it to her chest firmly, the lady watched as Spider-man pulled her kidnapper's arms behind his back and securely wrapped webbing around his wrists.

"You know.. for a second there I thought I finally met my match." Peter snickered to himself behind the mask whilst joking sarcastically to himself for his own personal amusement.

He binded the criminal's hands to an old fire-escape resting along one of the back alley walls, turning around to face the petrified girl, who was staring at him wide-eyed with her back pressed against the wall.

"Hey, are you alright?"

_Thud._

* * *

After rushing to the girl's aid and picking her up from her collapse, Peter fanned her with his gloved hand. Once she awoke from her black out and gained consciousness, the auburn haired girl revealed herself to be named Mary-Jane. Peter offered to escort her home after seeing the fear in her eyes to reassure her safety. He ignored the familiarity of that name whilst helping her brush the dirt off of her clothes before getting her back home.

Not only had he managed to get another thug off the streets of New York City, but Spider-man rescued another innocent citizen yet again. So he was more than happy to make sure that the beautiful young lady arrived to her home unharmed.

Once Mary-Jane walked safely into her house, Peter was off and swinging from web to web, once again. From building to building he swayed suspended hundred of feet in the air, the wind crushing into the face of his mask to Peter's delight; back and forth until he caught sight of the apartment complex he was seeking.

It was half past one in the morning by time he reached her floor, so Peter expected Gwen to be fast asleep when he landed on the fire-escape above her window. But to his surprise the blonde beauty laid awake on her bed, the glare from her phone lighting up the frustrated character of her face.

Spider-man gradually crawled his way down to her level, making sure he kept quiet as he slid down to the spot resting in the shadows. Setting his small, overstuffed backpack down beside him, Peter unzipped it and fumbled through it's contents until he got ahold of his headphones and cell. The vigilante unmasked himself before slipping the ear buds into his ears as the static from the police scanner played on his phone. The loud and obnoxious noise brought peace to Peter whilst he turned his gaze over to the girl relaxing in her bed.

Peter came to Gwen's house every single night, occasionally he'd come twice, and sometimes more. He found this spot to be a comfortable and secure hide-out to keep an eye out for trouble in the city below while he relaxed. Peter also admired how the location always seemed to keep his post in the shadows; incase Gwen ever came out looking for him. He made sure to keep this routine a secret, not wanting her to find out that he kept a close watch on her. Especially since he knew for a fact that Gwen was more than likely to be upset with him. She was probably more than frustrated (and maybe even disappointed) that he hadn't even attempted to make any sort of contact with her, specially after his slip up in school. _Oh god, that._ Peter knew he couldn't keep doing this - caving and associating himself with Gwen. He beat himself up for days after sneaking a conversation in with her when she handed him the class' notes. He had made a promise to keep her out of his life for _her_ safety, and he couldn't bring himself to do anything that could possibly put Captain Stacy's daughter's life in danger. So Peter tried to push the memory of Gwen's outfit from that Monday out of his head, and how it was the exact same one she wore the night that she had invited him over for dinner. The night Peter had revealed that he was Spider-man. The night that Peter and Gwen had shared their first kiss.

After running a hand through the tangled heap of hair on his head, Peter let out a defeated groan. Gwen did things to him, like the type of things that caused the spandex to be a _little_ bit of a problem with the tension near the waist region. With the thought of her gentle, pink lips on his, Peter's frustration made his grumble more intense than intended from the longing of her body against his.

He peeked out of one of his eye and leaned forward slightly; peering into Gwen's window to assure that he wasn't heard. Once he was convinced that his presence was unknown, he laid his head back and rested it on the cold, rusted railing.

He exhaled faintly, his body finally relaxing as he began day dreaming of him and the girl resting less than ten feet away from him. The color of Gwen's lips started painting his mind whilst his thoughts drifted back to that gentle kiss on the rooftop. _This girl is absolutely killing me._ Peter thought to himself as he licked his lips, he could still feel her sweet lips on his; he could still taste her cinnamon bubble gum.

* * *

_Peter was embarrassed, if only he had just kept his mouth shut when he heard Mr. Stacy address his feelings on the vigilante known as Spider-man. But no, the dumbass that Peter Parker was, spoke up and practically disrespected the man and the entire police force at his own dinner table. So once Gwen had suggested that the two of them 'get some air', he already knew that he had ruined everything._

_So there he was, following his crush since middle school out onto her roof, expecting her to tell him off. Peter reluctantly followed closely behind as she walked over to the ledge, stuffing his hands deeply into the pockets of his favorite jacket whilst making his way over towards her._

_"Well that was something," she finally spoke, a hint of smile playing on her lips once the words rolled off her tongue._

_"I'm sorry," Peter apologized once he started, the guilt from ruining their dinner creeping up on him before he began his first attempt at easing the tension. "You know I thought he was gonna arrest me at one point." _

_She brought her hands up, resting them along the top of the ledge as she shook her head. "Nah, I wouldn't let him arrest you."_

_Peter's lips curved into a slight grin at her words before his shoulders tightened. He pressed his forearms against the railing, leaning over the edge as he exhaled deeply out of frustration. He was nervous. More than nervous. Peter silently argued with himself in his head, 'the least you can do is tell her I mean, what's the worst that could happen?' He immediately frowned at that question, 'Okay she might not feel the same way about you, or she might run away out of fear but besides that, she needs to know.'_

_So Peter quickly made the decision in his head, he had to tell her. There were no if's, and's, or but's about it, Peter was going to tell her who he was and that was it. So as soon as he could feel Gwen moving closer to him, he shot up, accidentally interrupting her._

_"What happened to your face?-"_

_"I need to tell you something.." Peter began and stuffed his hands deeply in his pockets again, determination rang in his voice as he kept his gaze locked on hers._

_"Oh!" Gwen shot up in surprise, her lips curving up in anticipation, "Okay." _

_'God, her smile is beautiful.' He thought, making him only more freaked about revealing his secret to her. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he bit down on his lower lip, digging his teeth into the skin as he looked down. 'I can't do this I can't dothis I can'tdothis Ican'tdothisIcan'tdothis' he repeated in his head, Peter panicked as soon as he saw her curious blue eyes gazing up at him._

_"I.. I've been bitten." He started, immediately realizing how dumb he sounded once the words slipped out of his mouth and cursed under his breath._

_Gwen's anxious smile widened as her face perked up, "So have I." She whispered softly, to Peter's surprise. He shot his head up and rose his eyebrows as she inched closer to him, his facial expression softened once he saw that gorgeous smile of hers again. She distracted him every time she was in his sight, so he was already flustered by the time his eyes scanned her face and saw that dazzling grin._

_Peter started to smile before remembering what he had already started to say, making him rip his gaze from hers once the nerves began building up in him again. "Okay, okay, okay I- I gotta tell you this one thing.. I gotta tell you this one thing and uh-um, it's about the vigilante and the car thief, alright?"_

_Gwen instantly backed down and her smile turned into a disappointed frown before she shifted her eyes to her feet, "Oh.. okay." She breathed out the words as stepped back away from him._

_His shoulders sunk once he saw the saddened expression on her face, 'Shit. Shit. Shit. You're ruining it, oh god.' Peter shook his head as he stepped towards her, "No, nonono, no don't no. Okay forget that I'm not gonna talk about that, I'm gonna t-talk about me okay?" He stuttered before looking up at her with his eyes wide and a hopeful look on his face._

_"What about you?" She peered up at him in anticipation as she inched closer, with her bangs acting as curtains over her eyes._

_"Ughhh it's imposs.." Peter groaned in frustration as he trailed off, "I-I wish I could just.. I can't. It's hard to say."_

_Gwen's eyebrows rose whilst awaiting his response. "Just say it," she pleaded, tilting her head to get a closer look at the nervous boy standing in front of her before he turned away. She scooted forward as Peter exhaled an irritated breath while leaning over the ledge. Impatience took over as Gwen's curiosity scratched at her insides, "What, what?"_

_He looked up at her, silently admiring her to himself. He paused for a moment, taking in her fair skin and golden hair that was pulled back into a low pony-tail, hesitating just a second longer to admire her wide sea-colored eyes and bright red lips. A smirk slowly formed on his face before he averted his attention to the traffic below and promptly shook his head._

_Gwen rolled her eyes slightly, annoyance lined in her voice as she turned on her heel and began to walk away, "Forget it." _

_He panicked as he watched her march towards the door, so he brought his middle and ring fingers to the bottom of his palm to release the webbing from his wrist. The bio-cable grabbed ahold of her behind and, without thinking, Peter flicked his wrist. To Gwen's shock, she spun around rapidly before landing into Peter's arms. _

_He smirked as he slid his hands down to the waist of her plaid skirt, and ignoring the stunned gasps coming out of her mouth as she made the connection, Peter grabbed the nape of her neck and pulled Gwen towards him as he crushed his lips against hers._

_Peter Parker usually wasn't the kind to believe all that lovey-dovey crap that you heard in movies about fireworks, but as soon as he felt her relax into his embrace once their lips started moving in sync - even he would say that he saw sparks flying. So when Gwen pulled away and started stating the obvious that he was, indeed, Spider-man, Peter grabbed her face and was barely able to breathe out, "Shut up." Before crushing his lips backs onto hers. _

* * *

Peter grinned to himself as he started drifting off, his head bobbed up and down slightly until his leg slipped, causing his foot to bang into Gwen's window. He immediately awoke from his fatigue and jumped up.

"Oh shit!" he cursed to himself before swiftly grabbing his belongings. He turned his gaze to see a startled Gwen Stacy making her way over to the window; hastily dispensing his web to clumsily swing around the corner of the complex.

Once he was around the edge of the building, Spider-man peered around the corner to see the petite blonde searching for him on her fire-escape. He dug into his bag, fumbling around for his mask but - to his horror - turned to see it hanging limp on the ladder.

Peter silently prayed to himself, hoping that Gwen would forget about the noise of his foot thumping the window and go back into her room. He grabbed the straps of his bag and slung them around his shoulders as he waited. After a few minutes of her looking around, Gwen disappointingly slid back inside her bedroom and slammed the window shut behind her.

He let out a long phew and hopped onto the ladder a few apartments over from room twenty-sixteen. Peter readied himself before swinging down and rapidly flying past her room, grabbing his mask, and jumping to a different building. He smirked to himself whilst pulling the red spandex over his head, muttering compliments under his breath about how swiftly and impressively he managed to get out of that potential mess.

Although, Peter didn't realize that Gwen noticed the red and blue of his suit take off behind her.

* * *

**Author's note: **I just hate those blasted author's notes on the end of chapters, don't you? So let me quickly say that the first three chapters were just a little bit of Gwen/Peter fluff until I really got into the story, so don't worry - the next chapter _will _have the introduction to the plot. I don't want this story to be filled with just cute and sweet moments, since after all he is Spider-man and not everything can be so perfect. Also, I'm sorry I updated this so late. I had the rough draft written but I couldn't finish is until today but then I slept from four until two a.m. so it's all just one big mess. I promise to update a little quicker and again, thank you for reading.


	5. Chapter 004

**Chapter 004**

* * *

Gwen brought her hand up to lazily rubbed a tired eye, leading to slightly blurred vision and traces of mascara left beneath her eyes. It was already eleven o'clock and the only people left in the sixteenth floor lab were Gwen and Dr. Stone. Across the room was Dr. Stone bent over a microscope, probably examining the new herb that Gwen had suggested to use in the new counteractant the two had been working on. His jet black hair was slicked back to keep it from falling in front of his vision, along with his glasses perched on the bridge of his pointed nose. He paused every few minutes or so to push his black spectacles into place.

Dominic Stone was a handsome man, although he was in his early 40's, he was quite attractive. Gwen could imagine the girls at school giggling over how _sexy_ and _'hawt'_ Stone was if he had taught at Mid Town Science. She had to admit, the white OSCORP lab coat was very flattering to his lean muscles. Besides his looks, Dominic Stone was very intelligent and aspiring - a lot like her father in some ways. Which is probably why Gwen had admired him so much. His leadership inspired her, the way he cared for others more than himself, it was like his enthusiasm was enough to motivate a whole city. It was sort of how she used to look up to Curtis Conners until..

Gwen had just as quickly as the memory of Dr. Conners drifted into her thoughts pushed it back out her mind and shook her head. She focused back on the work in front of her and peered around a beaker with her thin blonde brows furrowed. Whilst continuing to try her best to keep thoughts and images of her dead father pushed to the back burner of her head, her eyes started drooping slightly after a few minutes of scribbling down possible additions to their equations and ingredients. The exhaustion from a long day at work and school slowly began creeping up on Gwen before she felt a hand tap her shoulder.

"You should head home and get some rest, Gwen." Dr. Stone's stern voice echoed in the empty lab, before his lips curved into a gentle smile at Gwen's hesitation, "Don't worry, we're getting close."

Before Gwen even had a chance to speak it was like Stone had read her mind, and he was right. They were close; _so_ close to perfecting their cloning tonic. Which is exactly why Gwen was hesitant to leave, she was anxious to finish this project, especially after months of studying and analyzing mice. But the two couldn't finalize it tonight, not while she was exhausted. So she nodded along with him and agreed to head out for the night, along with the fact that she was still temporarily at loss for words from the fatigue.

Gwen shoved a loose lock of hair behind her ear and started gathering her belongings. "You're probably right.." she trailed off as she stood up to, clumsily, sling her bag over her shoulder.

"I'll see you Thursday afternoon, Miss Stacy. Take tomorrow off, you deserve it." Dr. Stone said his farewells to the wearied girl as he turned on his heel to make his way back to the piles of work spread out on his table.

She sent him a grateful smile while using her elbow to prop open the door for her to exit. As she stepped into the elevator, she past Mrs. Stone and waved sluggishly to her mentor's wife whilst waiting for the doors to shut. Which earned her a dazzling grin from the secretary with the same charcoal colored hair that matched husbands.

Fumbling through the contents of her bag, Gwen mumbled under her breath in frustration after realizing that she had left her wallet at home. So with no money and nothing but a can of mace to protect herself, she began to walk down the deserted alley ways of New York. She strolled down the never ending street in her knee high boots as the cold air breezed along the inches of bare skin above her thigh length stockings. Gwen clutched her bag, but not out of fear. After all, she had been face to face with a mutant lizard so there was no way that Gwen Stacy was going to be afraid to walk in the dark.

In fact, the only thing that was distressing to Gwen was the possibility of bumping into a certain boy that wore the well known Spider-man suit on nights like these. She had promised herself that she would move on from Peter - which included forgetting about the glimpse of his suit that she had caught outside her window. But she couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was following her, and the thought alone bothered her.

Gwen was praying that it was just some street thug and not _him_ (she had decided that it was better not to refer to him by his name). As bad as that was, she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle running into him. She knew that it would ruin every bit of progress that she had made over the passed few days. Even if she had barely made any progress in the first place. So she began moving at a faster pace, causing her bag to repeatedly slam into her hip with each stride. The quicker she got home, the faster she could shove in her headphones, finish her biology essay, and forget all about Pe- er, _him._

Only one more block left to go and she would be in the safety of her apartment.

So with each passing building, Gwen occupied herself by counting every indent that she passed in the sidewalk until she reached the front of her apartment complex. She exhaled a sigh of relief as she made her way past the doorman. Whilst nodding her head to greet him, Gwen wondered how Peter could have ever found that sweet gentleman intimidating.

After standing in the elevator for an unbelievably torturous couple of minutes, Gwen turned the lock on the door discreetly, not wanting to wake the rest of the Stacy's that were sleeping peacefully in their rooms. She silently opened the door and tip-toed to her room - only stopping to cringe at the _creak_ of the door as it shut.

Once she made it into her room noiselessly, Gwen had stripped out of her clothing and slipped into a pair of sweats and a white tee before opening her curtains. "Finally.." she breathed out as her bottom plopped down onto her desk chair.

Gwen waited patiently for the computer to turn on whilst yanking biology textbooks out of her bag and pulling her hair back into a low pony-tail. As the screen loaded to reveal a photo of Gwen and Peter, her jaw tightened. She remembered the day that picture was taken, not the exact date but she remembered when. Gwen tore her gaze from the desktop to shake the memory of Peter's arms wrapped around her on top of the Empire State building.

She couldn't keep doing this to herself, she couldn't continue day dreaming of the past. The past was the past and it was never coming back. So with a swift click of her mouse, Gwen opened her nearly finished essay onto a word document and started typing away. The tapping of her fingertips against the keys drowned out her thoughts until she eventually forgot all about the picture hiding beneath the window of her report.

_..beep..beep...beep...beep..._

Gwen let out a long groan as she lifted her head off of the keyboard. Her tired eyes peeked out from her eyelids whilst searching for her phone. The sunlight lit up her room as it peered out from behind the sky scrapers, making Gwen lift a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness until finally getting ahold of her ringing cell.

"Uh.. hello?"

"Gwendolyn! I am sorry to be calling you at this hour but you will not believe what I just came across!" A man's voice came blaring through her phone's speaker as Gwen frantically searched for the volume button.

She rubbed her temple after turning the volume down as he spoke, his excited voice pained her already splitting headache, "Dr. Stone? What time is it? What's going on?"

"It's 5:30 in the morning- but that's not the point. I figured it out!" Stone shouted eagerly, only to Gwen's despair. He paused for a moment as he waited for her reaction, but decided to continue once he gained nothing but silence on the other end of the line. "After you left I noticed that you left one of your notes behind, until I saw that it was a potential addition to our equation and well.. I decided to play around with it and Gwen, this discovery is unbelievable!"

Her eyes widened at his words with her jaw nearly dropping to the floor in bewilderment. A small gasp came from her slightly parted lips as she recollected her thoughts. Could he have figured out their problem to the equation? Was that why he had stayed so late? What could a few variables and components do? She wasn't even fully conscious of what she had scribbled down onto that scrap of paper. Her eyes flicked all around her room whilst she thought over the possibilities, before she was brought back to reality and snapped out of her daze by her name being yelled repeatedly into her ear.

"Are you se- what did you find?" Gwen asked anxiously into her phone before she began biting her nails. Her weariness was gone now, Gwen was wide awake and her attention was completely fixated on her mentor.

By the way Dr. Stone had eagerly chuckled into the phone at her impatience, she could tell that his usual crazy and goofy smirk was plastered on his face. He spoke clearly and contently into his phone, "Get here now."

It only took Gwen about thirty minutes to make it back to the OSCORP tower, and fortunately it was just before the morning traffic. She was more than relieved that her cab reached the building before the streets became packed with taxis and the sound of horns being honked by irritated drivers. Once she reached the big glass doors of OSCORP, she was jogging - no _sprinting_ - through the entrance. Gwen held up her employee identification card as she passed the woman at the front desk before tapping vigorously on the 'up' button of the elevator. She bounced up and down on the instep of her feet restlessly as she waited for the doors to open.

_One.. Two.. Three.. Four..._

The ding of the elevator went off after every floor until it reached the twenty-first level. Gwen slid her slender body through the slit between the doors before they had a chance to fully open. Hastily making her way to the lab that she knew all too well. Her head perked up once she caught sight of Dr. Stone leaning over a small cage.

"What. Happened." Gwen spoke in between deep breaths whilst letting her bag slide off of her shoulder and down her arm until it reached the floor.

Dominic Stone turned around with a beaming smile plastered to his face as he faced his student. His arms were crossed behind his back as he made his way around the table, with his voice completely content as he spoke. He rose an eyebrow slightly once he finally met the curious gaze of Gwen, "Remember Ace?"

Gwen furrowed her brows in confusion. Of course she remembered Ace, she had been staring at that mouse for hours every day since the project started. How could she not? She peered around her mentor's shoulder to get a closer look to what was inside the cage. Only she didn't see the two gray critters that were usually scampering around in the hay, there was a pair of two large iguanas walking around. Yep, they were _definitely_ not mice.

"Are you trying to say that.. _that_ is-"

"Now that's a question isn't it?" The bright grin on Stone's face showed how amusing Gwen's bewilderment was. He cheerfully strutted around the opposite side of the cage whilst she gaped at the reptile crawling around in its enclosure. "I should probably explain, shouldn't I? After finding the notes of information and possible additions to our equations that you left at your desk, I cooked up a little remedy." Dr. Stone leaned down until he was face to face with the emerald lizard, with the only the glass separating the two as he tapped on it lightly. "I was only out of the room no longer than fifteen minutes when I came back to see Ace like this- with his fur being replaced by scales and his tail nearly as large as his body!"

Gwen crossed her arms and stared at the scientist before her in disbelief. She couldn't believe a word he was saying, just hearing him say this out loud made him sound insane. This had to be some sort of joke or prank. Gwen had seen many things in the past year, and had done many things. Reminder of how she nearly died when Curtis Conners came at her for the Ganali Device. But she had never thought for a moment that some little doodles and theories she scribbled on a paper could make a garden mouse turn into a full sized iguana. Gwen went through all of this over and over in her head whilst she stared intently into the cage. She bit her bottom lip and squinted her eyes at the traces of silver fur still lingering on the texture of the scales before tilting her head up at Dr. Stone.

"So are you telling me that Ace was able to somehow shift himself into an _iguana_? You do realize how unbelievably mad this is right?" She said and lifted a skeptic eyebrow at the man before her.

He nodded his head and chuckled under his breath, "It seems to me that instead of giving him the ability to replicate his organs, we gave him the capability of making himself into an exact copy of this reptile - who's cage happened to be right next to his, I might add. So, yes I do realize how _mad_ I sound but Gwen, this is such an unbelievable break through!" He grabbed her shoulders once she stood up, shaking them slightly as if he was trying to shake the excitement he felt into her.

"Who else knows about this? Have you told any of the others? Did you call David and James? This is just extraordinary we have to tell the others. It's so.. wow."

He pursed his lips at her multiple questions as she rambled on, "No, I haven't. I don't think we should tell the other workers just yet. Let's keep this between us - mentor to student - just until I figure out exactly how this had happened, okay?" Gwen tilted her head to the side slightly as she nodded her head along with him as their eyes locked, the thrill of their agreement made Dr. Stone's face brighten up.

She knew this could end badly, there was so many ways that a discovery like this could go wrong. Especially when kept hidden from a company like OSCORP. She remembered what had happened with Conners the last time there was a breakthrough like this. But she couldn't bring herself to fight the adrenaline running through her veins. Gwen hadn't shown this much enthusiasm in a long time, and she wasn't about to ruin it.

* * *

Gwen had ended up staying in the lab with Dominic Stone until just before her first period started, making her over an hour late to her morning class. Which also resulted in a full phone that was beeping with 6 missed calls and 2 voicemails from a worried mother. Although she didn't mind much, not every day does your average pet mouse shift itself into an entirely different species. The thought alone made Gwen squeal happily to herself whilst making her way to the literature classroom.

All through the teacher's lecture, Gwen's mind was focused on something else that had absolutely nothing to do with the lesson. She was so deep in thought that she, almost, didn't notice the stares coming from a Peter Parker sitting across the room. So once the bell rang, she didn't even hesitate before speed walking out of the room and straight to her locker. For the first time in months Gwen completely ignored Peter, not even throwing quick glances over in his direction.

As soon as she managed to open her locker and hastily swap her textbooks with a novel and notebook, Gwen's phone started ringing vigorously at the bottom of her bag. She smiled nervously at the staring students that passed her whilst rummaging through the contents of her carry-on. She finally got ahold of the beeping cell right before it went to her voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gwen, I um, sorry to bother you but.." Gwen mentally smacked herself as she cursed under her breath. Of course, she had forgotten all about her lunch with Ethan. She was so fixated on OSCORP and exams that she ditched him without even a simple call or text. "..I noticed you were a little busy yesterday and we didn't meet for that coffee."

"Oh my gosh Ethan, I am so sorry I completely forgot! I've been so busy with work that I forgot about our plans-" Gwen's rambling got cut off once she caught a glimpse of _him_ out of the corner of her eye.

For the first time that day, Gwen acknowledged his presence and she felt like she couldn't breathe. There Peter was, with his head buried deep within his locker which just happened to be almost directly across the hall from Gwen's. His hand was tightly clenched on the locker where he stood completely frozen. He continued exchanging books in his book-bag with the ones in his locker casually, but you could tell he was tense by the muscles in his back. Was he listening?

"Gwen?"

Hearing her name brought Gwen back to reality, "Oh sorry, I-I'm still here." She stood up straighter with stiff shoulders and turned her body back towards the inside of her locker - and away from Peter. "How about I make it up to you, huh? We could go out after school ends and you're finished at the university. _Out to eat_, of course." The words slipped past her lips before she could stop herself. A little too flirtatiously, actually. She didn't know why she intended for it to sound more than friendly. Gwen didn't even like Ethan no more than a friend, but she found herself practically throwing herself at the boy. She barely even knew how to flirt for one, let alone ask someone out. But for some reason, that didn't stop her once she felt Peter's eyes on her.

"Yeah Gwen, that'd be great. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again, honestly. I'll meet you at Culture Expresso around 3 o'clock."

She nodded along, a wide smile was planted on her face whilst she kept glancing over at the boy spending a little more time than needed at his locker. "Culture Expresso, 3 o'clock. Gotcha."

After Ethan happily agreed to her offer, the two said their goodbye's. "Okay.. okay, so I'll see you in a little. Bye Ethan," the last two words came out in a small giggle that was very out of character for Gwen Stacy. Her lips curved up into a slight smirk whilst slipping her phone back into her bag and pushing her locker shut. The tone of her voice whilst speaking with Ethan was very un-Gwen-like, but she didn't care. She was somewhat proud of herself for managing to pull that off.

But her satisfied grin was instantly wiped from her face once she turned around and was face to face with Peter Parker. His gaze met hers, a hint of hurt flashed through his wide chocolate brown eyes once they caught sight of Gwen's. But that's not what she was focused on, her eyes lingered their way down to his hand where it rested on the handle of his locker. She felt immediate remorse as she stared at the dent in the locker, which was molded almost perfectly in the shape of a hand. Peter's hand.

Gwen took a step forward; forgetting all about how she swore to leave her past behind and Peter along with it. She couldn't handle the saddened expression that was written all over his bruised face. His clenched jaw, pursed frown, and ruffled hair was enough to make anybody want to take the boy in their arms. "Peter.. I'm not- that wasn't.." she began as the crease in Peter's forehead deepened, her whispers echoing through the now empty halls whilst she spoke.

He immediately shook his head and slammed his locker shut before swiftly turning on his heel. The locker door swung back open as he began to walk away, the dented handle kept it from closing. Peter ignored it as he sped down the hallway with his head down and eyes locked to the floor. He lifted the hood of his favorite jacket over his head before he turned rapidly turned around the corner.

Leaving an apologetic Gwen behind in the deserted halls of Mid Town High School.

* * *

**Author's note: **Here I go again with these lame author's notes, but I felt that I needed to thank the few people that have left reviews on my story. For one, thank you for even taking the time for reviewing. And two, thank you for leaving suggestions. For my next chapter, I promise I'll try and make it longer as requested. Also, I changed the title of this story from But Those are the Best Kind to Promises, and fair warning, I might change it again until I'm fully comfortable with everything. Okay, okay I promise I'm finished now. Thank you, once again, for reading.


	6. Chapter 005

**Chapter Five**

* * *

_'Ethan? Who the holy hell was Ethan?'_ Peter scoffed under his breath. He chucked his book bag onto his bed and plopped down onto the desk chair with so much force that it almost spun around a full 360 degrees. The previously invented automated lock on his door sealed after a flick of his finger against the switch. He rested his elbows on his knees before setting his chin against his clenched fists, with the whites of his knuckles showing from the excessive amount of irritation that made his fingernails press into the palm of hand. He was frustrated, and absolutely annoyed. Actually no, he was more than that. Peter was doubtlessly furious. And he had no idea why.

Maybe it was the fact that Gwen had completely avoided him the entire class period, even after he made plenty of (failed) attempts at hitting her with crumbled up pieces of loose-leaf paper. Maybe it was that she was planning to meet some 'Ethan' guy at a coffee shop when he knew for a fact that Gwen, surely and unquestionably, hated coffee. His cold glare pierced the floor as his mind ran through as many excuses that it could muster. _'Or..'_ Peter's front teeth dug into his lip bitterly as his thoughts continued picking at his mind, _'Maybe it was the way that her laugh chimed through the halls like bells whilst she talked on the phone with.. Ethan.'_ The way she used to laugh around Peter whenever he whispered cheesy pick-up lines into that spot behind her ear that made her go weak at the touch; the kind that sounded like they were from one of those chick flicks that she watched every first Saturday of the month with her mom.

Ethan and Gwen. Gwen and Ethan. It didn't sound right- it didn't sound right at all. In fact, just the thought of them sitting at that cafe together whilst he told her lame stories made Peter want to vomit. And Peter truly and entirely did not want to imagine her laughing at those stupid fucking jokes - the ones that were the type that Peter used to tell her, just to catch a glimpse of that breathtaking Gwen Stacy smile. He let an agonizing groan pass from inbetween his lips as the image of a giggling Gwen colored his mind. He missed her laughter, he missed how it bounced off the walls whenever she played along with his senseless humor because she really, really wanted to kiss him.

He focused his gaze over towards the brand new alarm clock that sat on the nightstand beside his bed and his pout sunk lower, creating frown lines around the corners of his mouth. It was almost 3 o'clock. Right around the time Gwen was supposed to meet with that guy. His shoulders slumped as he huffed out a long, sorrowful sigh.

Peter knew he shouldn't be jealous. In truth, he was really trying his best to be happy for Gwen as she would be for him. However, he couldn't help but feel an irresistible amount of hatred towards Ethan. Red hot rage burned through his veins just at the thought of the guy. It was like loathing the guy just wasn't enough, for some reason he was awfully jealous as well. Gwen had mentioned something about an university in the middle of her conversation, which did nothing but make Peter feel an excessive amount of resentment. How could he compete with someone already in _college_? Peter was barely even passing his classes as it is. All he had was a cheap job at the Daily Bugle, selling pictures of Spider-man to some grumpy publisher. He had nothing to offer and that made him envy the guy ten times more.

Peter stood up almost immediately once his insecurities started scratching their way through his mind. He couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't just sit around in his room wondering about what events were going on in that cafe. So after a few minutes of pondering what to do in his head, Peter flicked his wrist and fired a web that caught ahold of the red and blue spandex hiding in the back of his closet.

"Oh you're gonna regret this Pete," he mumbled to himself whilst tugging on the thin fabric of his suit. Within a matter of seconds, Peter managed to yank his Spidey suit on before slipping the mask over his head.

He popped his head out of the window and quickly scanned the street, searching for any signs of possible on-lookers before shooting a bio-cable and swinging out of the window. Spider-man swayed back and forth from each building with his destination planted firmly in his mind. Huffing out of his nose heavily, he jumped from web to web, thrusting himself into the air every time he let the thin cable slip from his grasp to grab ahold onto another whilst making his way down the busy city street.

The masked vigilante landed lightly on top the fixture of a small shop, which happened to be directly across from Culture Expresso. He was perched on the roof of the boutique as his gaze wandered instinctively around the inside of the packed cafe. His eyes trailed down the lines of people, until they came to a sudden halt once they caught sight of a certain, delicate blonde. He looked fixedly at her outfit as he took in the fuzzy charcoal sweater and matching skirt that was topped off by an ivory pea-coat. Peter recognized that outfit; he had caught himself admiring the tight fabric of the sweater that seemed to hug her figure only a few hours before.

Peter hastily reached into the beat up backpack that rested next to him, digging his hands around for one of his tees. '_Maybe that guy was a no-show?'_ he prayed silently to himself, hoping he could find an excuse to go in there and just talk to Gwen, no matter how unbelievable it was. So he debated whether or not to hop down there and apologize for how he acted previously that day, until his eyes stumbled upon a little something called disappointment.

Gwen bounced in her silk flats eagerly, only tilting her head up until her eyes met the ones of a boy standing tall beside her. She gave him that ambitious look that was, usually, reserved for Peter whilst her mouth hammered away. Only God knows what she could have been talking about, and honestly Peter would rather not know. His shoulders tightened as he studied the way Ethan's lean and muscular arm wrapped around Gwen's shoulders to pull her close to him, in a side hug.

The gesture was innocent enough, but Peter still felt as if steam was coming out of his ears at this point. His eyes were squinted into slits by the intense glare he shot at the two. Anger was building up inside of him more and more each time his gaze shifted from Gwen to the - painfully - handsome man, who was probably Ethan. He tried to fight off the jealousy that burned in his skin, but just the thought of the two pissed Peter off, but not nearly as much as it did to see them together. He just wanted to march on over to the guy and clamp his mouth shut with one of his webs. He wanted to scream that Gwen was his and only his, and if he laid even one finger on her than he would receive a lot more than a black eye. Peter wanted to physically _hurt_ the guy.

But he knew better. That guy never did anything to Peter. For all he knew, Ethan could actually be a good guy. Peter just couldn't wrap his head around the idea of Gwen finally moving on; especially when he hasn't. He gritted his teeth together as he stashed the clothes back into his bag hotly. He pulled the zipper back with so much force that it nearly ripped off and he blew air from his cheeks, defeated. Shoving the small sack into one of the bright and glimmering letter 'O's on the store's sign, Peter glanced over his shoulder at the golden locks that spread out in ringlets across the girl's shoulders.

Heartache was lined in his features as he watched the pair take their seats at a small table that was lined against the window. The tightened muscles in his back shown through the spandex as Peter heaved out. He furrowed his thick brows and let the reality of how the girl who had shown him how to love, moved on.

* * *

_*We have a 10-5 on 6th Avenue between 42nd and 43rd, I repeat we have a fire at the Oscorp Tower*_

Spider-man flicked the cell of out his gloved fingers and over his shoulder as the dispatcher's synthetic-like voice spoke through the static. He sprung out of the window before the phone even hit the bed, making his way towards the same building that seemed to be the focus of all his problems.

Peter seemed to fly through the city (a lot quicker than usual) with the intense amount of fear and panic spreading through-out his body. The woman's monotonous voice rang endlessly in his head, repeating the location of the fire over and over. Oscorp Tower. It was Thursday afternoon, which meant Gwen would be working all night. The lab that she studied in happened to be all the way up on the twenty-first floor; the realization intensifying Peter's already piercing sense of fear. Praying that she was already standing outside on the secure pavement and out of harms way, Peter rushed down 42nd Avenue to make his way towards the burning building.

The wind skid along the fabric of the Spider-man suit, creating a rippling affect as he let go of the lean, transparent cable to let himself free fall from a skyscraper. Nearly a hundred feet from the ground, the masked menace aimed his wrist at the building that stood tall beside Oscorp to release another crystalline web. With the link binding him to the building, Peter let himself swing down towards the police men and crimson fire trucks that rested beneath the scorching fire that burned above their heads. He landed swiftly next to one of the men wearing blue, with cheers erupting from the crowd forming behind him.

"What floor?" Spider-man yelled into the police officer's ear, trying to listen over all of the chatter going on through-out the rows of anxious citizens. He rubbed his covered chin restlessly; he didn't have time to deal with clueless police officers.

The police man turned around, with startled eyes gawking at the mask covering the vigilante's face, with disbelief that he would dare to converse with one of the men trying to have him locked in a jail cell. "H-hey you can't be here!" he shouted and licked his trembling lips that hid behind the obsidian goatee.

"Look dude, I get it. Your team here wants me in cuffs whatever," Spider-man pointed his index finger at the man's chest before continuing, "but you and I both know that there are innocent people in there. Their lives are at risk, you gotta let me help!"

The cop rubbed the back of his neck nervously before letting his arm fall back to his side. He sighed heavily, defeated. "Alright kid, twenty-first floor. There's two stuck behind a piece of fallen debris.. but I wouldn't suggest going in there, it could blow any minute."

Peter ignored the man's warning as his patience began to run low, and hastily fired a web at the top of one of the fire engine's ladders. He nodded his head and muttered, "Gotcha," before slinging himself to rest on the hydraulic platform. He sat in his arachnid position and studied the burning building, searching for any sign of easy access. Spider-man hurled himself to the face of the glass enclosure and began to crawl agilely up the wall. Rushing towards the twenty-first floor with dread determining his actions, Peter feared for the two citizens stranded inside the tower. He pleaded to God under his breath, hoping that one of them wasn't a golden-haired girl that could easily be snapped in half by a chunk of fallen plaster or a beam.

The police officer that stood below watched warily along with the crowd at the super hero risking himself to save the trapped workers. He mumbled in disbelief at Spider-man who was making his way towards the threatening flames above, "Godspeed."

Peter punched his way into the floor just beneath the twenty-first, the glass easily shattering with the power of his blow. He jumped inside and the smoke immediately started filling his lungs. The burning sensation ran through his nostrils and throat as he held his hand above his eyes and crouched. He squinted his eyes, making salty tears spill over the rims of his eyes and down his face until it reached fabric of the mask as he searched for the staircase. The fumes made his damp eyes sting, but he paid no attention to it as he climbed up the steps leading towards the floor above.

It was like someone was skinning the inside of his throat with a cheese-grater as Spider-man searched through-out the floor and scanned for the two trapped within the flames. He longingly looked around the lab, only finding nothing but broken beakers and crimson flames that seemed to lick the ceiling. Peter called out repeatedly, begging whoever was still cornered inside to make any kind of noise that he could follow, but received nothing in return. Close to giving up, he coughed vigorously into his gloved hands with dark ash spitting out into his palm.

"Somebody! Plea.. se help!" A husky voice pleaded from behind where the masked menace stood, with painful coughs in between syllables.

Spider-man quickly whirled around with wide and alert eyes hidden behind the honeycomb shades. His eyes moved around hungrily, looking for any sign of the survivor. He held a hand out to block the smoke from his face as the man croaked out until his voice turned hoarse. Peter nodded along with the helpless shouts coming from the back corner of the science lab, encouraging him not to give up just yet, "Keep yelling buddy, I'm coming, okay?" Pieces of debris started falling from the ceiling and landed in front of Peter to his dismay. With a irritated groan, Spider-man climbed over chucks of remains and towards the calls for help. The fifteen foot hall seemed almost fifty miles long as he felt his way through with his eyes slammed shut, unable to handle the heat against his almost airtight Spidey mask. He nearly passed out by the time he reached the scientist trapped behind a wide, aluminum desk.

Traces of dirt and ashes sculpted the middle aged man's structure with his jet black hair sticking up in random places, a few normally pin-straight strands were now fallen like a curtain over his stressed hazel eyes in spirals from the humidity. His lab coat was no longer it's usual milky texture, it was torn in places with singed pockets. The Oscorp logo was close to being entirely ripped off, along with a name tag that read the name 'Dominic Stone' in bold, capital letters. Peter quickly rushed over and knelt down beside him once Dr. Stone's eyes began drooping, "Hey, hey I'm here to help, but I need you to stay awake for me Mr. Stone."

Dominic Stone lifted his gaze up lazily to take in the vision of Spider-man in front of him and started mumbling to the boy behind the mask, the words tripping over each other as his lips slowed, "N-no.. no. Please, I need you to get my wife.." His eyes shifted over towards a body laying limp behind a desk chair a few feet away. His voice trailed off at the sight of his wife passed out with flames inching their way towards her. Eyes widening, Dr. Stone sat up in an instant, pointing his finger out to show his rescuer the way, "You have to get my wife first, please!"

Peter's eyebrows furrowed once he noticed how close the fire was to engulfing the man's wife. His shoulders slumped at the realization of her inevitable death, because there was no way he could make it in time to save both of them. As much as the super-hero wished he could make it over to her in time, Spider-man obtained the reality of the situation and slid his arm around the scientist, "I need you to come with me Dominic! I have to get you out of here now!" He slowly lifted the man to his feet, ignoring the thrashing of his arms and feet.

"No! Spider-man please, I am begging you.. I am not leaving without her please!" Dr. Stone's husky voice was now somewhat of a whine as he pleaded. The desperation filled his irises whilst he pounded his arms against Spider-man's hold, but it was no use. His weakened muscles were no match for the super-human strength of the hero beside him. He blew the locks of hair out of his face as he turned his head to see the dark hair of his wife spread out along the floor. Her back was faced towards him with an arm resting out in front of her in an unusual position.

Peter felt the heat of the flames against the spandex as he hurried towards the broken line of windows; his suit stuck to his skin with the sweat no longer enough to keep the material hydrated. He cried out in pain with each step, the melting spandex rubbed vigorously against his raw skin. The light from the outdoors brightened his vision as the two got closer towards the previously blown out wall, until Dr. Stone shouted in his ear, demanding to be let back inside for his wife. "Listen dude, it's either you live, or neither of you live.. and I can't let both of you die!" Peter roared at the obviously horrified man beside him, before his stern gaze softened behind the cracked lenses. Guilt filled his body as Peter wrapped his arm around the scientist's body once again and stood on the ledge of the building.

Peter's jaw was clenched shut the entire time he swung down to the cheering crowd with the scientist in his grasp. His fists clenched as Dr. Stone roughly pushed the super-hero off of him once their feet hit the ground, yelling insults at the teenage boy for leaving his wife behind. Once Stone was safely on the concrete, Spider-man turned towards the building and lifted a wrist to release a cable in attempt to make it to the abandoned woman inside. But once he pointed himself at the flames above, a loud explosion could be heard overhead.

The glass shattered on the floors above and below the twenty-first with gold and ruby flames spitting from the open windows. A piercing scream could be heard from the man behind him as the firetruck continued spewing gallons of water towards the tower. Spider-man closed his eyes in defeat as he looked down, the reality of their loss overwhelming. He had failed to rescue both citizens in distress, and the disappointment tugged at his heart painfully.

"You're gonna regret this, Spider-man!" Dr. Stone wailed between coughs with paramedics immediately surrounding him, shoving oxygen tanks his face and wrapping gauze around his burnt arm. His resentful glare seemed to pierce through the back of Peter's mask as the man grieved over the certain death of his love and secretary.

Spider-man turned his head over his shoulder to apologize, before deciding it be best to keep his mouth shut. There was no way he could make up for this, there was no way the man would forgive him. So he turned to leave, until his movement stopped once a familiar pair of bright blue eyes caught his chestnut ones. It was like every emotion came crashing into him like a train as he relished in the sight of his most cherished girl out of harms way. Relief washed over him as he swiftly turned around to face her, with nothing but a line of caution tape separating the two. A grateful grin spread across his face as his eyes scanned her body - not a scratch on her creamy skin. Not a blonde piece of hair out of place.

He almost started to walk over towards her, before he quickly realized that there was a group of shocked citizens gawking at him. A small smile showed signs of appearing across Gwen's lips, until a hand rested on her shoulder. Peter's grin faded once his shifted his eyes up to meet the ones of a tall young man. The sandy colored hair and almost perfectly sculpted jawline of the man seemed familiar.. he looked exactly like the guy she had met at the coffee shop. Er- he was the guy she had met at the coffee shop. And here Peter was, face-to-face with Ethan; expect it wasn't Peter. It was Spider-man. And people were starting to stare. They were slowly catching onto the glances that were being shared between the masked hero and the intern waiting on the side of the street.

So just as Spider-man was about to take off, the same police officer he had met earlier came running towards him, "Hey! You can't leave, you're still wanted yanno!"

Peter rolled his eyes and turned completely away from the - revolting - couple that stood on the sidewalk a few feet away from him. He frown was plastered to his face as he lifted his wrist, and with a flick of his finger he took off. "Maybe next time," he yelled over his shoulder at the group of stunned cops standing helplessly on the ground below. Not paying any attention towards the angry yells from the law enforcement or the girl of his dreams with that Ken doll, Peter swung around the corner effortlessly and headed home.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry I updated a little late, it's finals week and I haven't had much time to write.. but here you go! I managed to fit in some time to type the rest up.


	7. Chapter 006

**Chapter 006**

Weeks passed since Gwen had been at Oscorp. The last time being the day of the record worthy fire that blazed throughout the lower region of the notorious building.

That happened to also be the last she had seen of Dr. Stone, minus the photos of him that appeared all over news stations for nearly a week after the accident. The night of that fire, the same day that his wife had died in the explosion, Dominic Stone went missing. After being ripped away from the ghastly scene, the ambulance rushed him to the ER. Possible problems with his respiratory system were at high risk of being fatal due to excessive inhalation of smoke and ash.

Just before heading out two days later, Gwen overheard a broadcast on the television speaking of the horrific events that took place earlier that week. The middle-aged anchor woman spoke monotonously before being cut off by a frantic journalist who looked as if a vein was going to pop out of his head if he didn't speak of the intriguing story he managed to successfully get a hold of.

Gwen would never forget the horrifyingly captivated look in the man's eyes as he spoke of the not-so-delightful news that her mentor was rumored to have gone missing.

_"My sources have been anonymously informed that Dominic Stone, biochemist at the famously known Oscorp company, went missing around one o'clock in the morning last night from the Metropolitan Hospital Center. Police say that the wires and tubes he was connected to were found completely mutilated around the floor of his abandoned room.."_

It was not even twenty-four hours later when Gwen also learned of a forced entry in the basement of the already acclaimed building. Apparently the man behind the burglary left the entire floor untouched, apart from one mysterious file that the company has been determined to keep under wraps. The confidential folder happened to be placed under the file name 'Special Projects', which of course, didn't seem suspicious at all.

The whole ordeal made Gwen feel anything except at ease. It wasn't enough that the entire building's worth of employees were unable to return to their work until further notice, but it seemed that God just had to add the peculiar events of a missing Stone and break-in at Oscorp to the situation. It was bad enough that Gwen was out of work until the floor of her lab was renovated; now she didn't know if she even had a job at all.

Now nearly three weeks later, Gwen was finally able to refrain from hitting the mute button whenever the channel 4 news began their evening segment. The buzz around New York about the now officially addressed as a missing person, Dominic Stone, finally settled down after what felt like months. Everything felt as if it was back to normal; minus the absence of her instructor that seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. Gwen had to try her best to ignore the numerous rumors drifting throughout the building when she was finally able to head back to Oscorp to try and recover any of her and Dr. Stone's unpublished serum. Word travels fast, and sometimes in the process words get twisted and transfigured to meet the preferred level of insanity so that it's something interesting.

Gwen couldn't believe any of the stories that she overheard from her fellow colleagues, half of them were altogether ludicrous and she had no idea how anyone in their right mind would even listen to the nonsense. The rumors ranged anywhere from Dr. Stone becoming a science experiment in the basement of the facility to him going insane after the death of his beloved wife.

To add to the stress, there hadn't been any sign of Spider-man since he failed to rescue the secretary and wife of the missing biochemist. And Gwen had started to worry. The last person Peter hadn't been able to save was, well, her father and it was like he still hadn't stopped blaming himself for that either. Peter's a good guy, and the most frustratingly good guy that Gwen knows, and she wished that he hadn't been the one bitten by that damn radioactive spider.. but if there was anyone that could've been bitten she was glad it was him. Gwen had always admired his selflessness and dedication to the citizen's of New York, but she knew how unhealthy it was to put the responsibility of all 8.3 million living there on himself. But Peter was Peter, and that meant the loss of one weighed on his shoulders like an anchor - or maybe even ten anchors.

She imagined Peter sitting in his room feeling helpless after something he couldn't control from nearly four weeks ago as she traced her finger around the outer ring of the glass. Gwen sat fixated on the clinking ice cubes floating in the cup of water, deep in thought. Classes had only been over for about an hour and her lunch had already been entirely eaten with nothing left but crumbs from her turkey sandwich scattered on the plate. The chatter throughout the cafe sounded like nothing but muffled voices to Gwen as she continued doodling in the corner of her notebook. It was like hours passed by within the few minutes that she sat in that window seat, gazing at the business men walking home with briefcase in hand.

Until a hand rested on her shoulder, causing her to nearly fall out of her chair from the unexpected gesture.

The gentle spoken voice said her name in such a casual tone that it was easily recognized within the prompt conversations once he startled her. Gwen quickly looked over her shoulder, her wide eyes wandering up to meet the hazel ones of her close friend before letting out a sigh of relief. "Jesus Ethan, you gotta give a girl some warning!"

He threw his hands up in retreat as she began collecting her things and shoving them inside her bag, "Hey I wasn't the one staring out the window like Bella in New Moon." Ethan chuckled under his breath as Gwen gently smacked her elbow into his side. He instantly shut his mouth and combed his sandy locks to the side once he received a glare from the contentious little blonde.

"It's embarrassing that you've seen that movie," Gwen rolled her eyes after placing a few singles under her empty glass of water along with some change. She brushed her blonde curls behind her shoulder until they waterfalled down her back elegantly, just before slinging her bag onto her shoulder.

His toothy grin slowly faded as he followed her through the people piling inside the packed cafe until they finally reached the outdoors. He scratched the back of his head nervously as he kept pace with her, waiting until they were freed from the lot of people leaving work. The two walked in silence until Ethan cleared his throat, "So um, Gwen?"

She tilted her head up to look at him with her thin brows raised beneath her fringed bangs. Gwen tried to ignore the guilt she happened to feel whenever she looked at her close friend as she hummed a barely audible, "Hmm?"

"How are you?"

She immediately shifted her gaze down to the pavement and pushed the thoughts of a jealous Peter out of her mind. This seemed to be the question her friend asked nearly every time they've seen each other since the fire, and it happened to get more and more annoying each time he brought it up. Not that she didn't appreciate his concern, Gwen just didn't want to be reminded of how she was only mere minutes away from having the same fate as Mrs. Stone.

Gwen had just arrived to Oscorp as Dr. Stone was heating the vile of liquid that she and him had invented. The deep violet goo must have had a chemical reaction that went entirely in the opposite direction that they had planned, causing an explosion just as she entered the elevator that was heading to its usual floor. Once Gwen swiped her employee I.D. in front of the strip of black containing the laser to allow access, a sudden blast could be heard overhead. Before she knew it, the usual synthetic voice that consistently seemed to be chattering throughout the tower was now commanding every employee to evacuate the building. Red lights flashed throughout the halls and sirens blared. Almost every one of Gwen's colleagues rushed down the stairs dripping with water that rained down from the emergency sprinklers, making Gwen wince from the horrible memory.

Smoke began to drift its way down the halls aimlessly once Gwen came back to her senses and realized what was going on. Her previously smoothed out, low ponytail was now sticking up and falling out in places from the sudden humidity as she swiftly marched down the lengthy hall. Ethan turned around the same corner in his deep navy janitor's uniform, his eyes frantically gawking at the frenzy before him until they landed on a slender young woman who had been coughing vigorously into her arm. Somehow she managed to stay completely calm throughout the whole situation minus the fact that she could hardly breathe, earning her points for maturity in Ethan's mind.

Gwen refused to show any signs of fear as she followed closely behind the panicking employees. They desperately made their way down the long and steep flights of stairs with the deadly smoke on their tail. She had already made it on the eleventh floor by time the mistreated serum ruptured, making the eleven flights of stairs seem almost ten miles long with the endless jogging. Her hand gripped onto the cold steel of the railing with Ethan's resting on her back whilst the two made their way down the hundreds of steps.

The pair let out sighs of relief once they sprinted through the front doors of Oscorp, not stopping until they made their way across the street and onto the sidewalk that ran parallel to the burning building. It was like reality hit Gwen like a train when she looked up to see two more floors now being consumed by the flames.

Only minutes after everyone was evacuated, New York's favorite masked hero swung around from behind a building - causing a faint smile to appear on Gwen's lips. Relief washed over her as she watched as the Amazing Spider-man swung suspended from a web over the crowd forming outside Oscorp. She watched as he gracefully landed beside a familiar policeman that she must've met at one of her father's many gatherings.

The two were immediately engaged in a brief squabble that lasted until Spider-man's patience ran low which Gwen could tell by the way he was moving his hands whilst he spoke. She couldn't make out the words between the two through the chatter erupting from the mass amount of people, until one little word seemed to catch her attention; making her eyes wide with panic. The word slipped out of the man's mouth in something like a whisper. The fire had started on the twenty-first floor. The floor that Gwen and Dr. Stone had their lab. That was the floor that contained their precious discovery that the two worked for months to invent. Her eyes instantly snapped back up towards the blazing crimson above, watching as the superhero forced his way into the building.

The next few minutes were excruciatingly painful to endure. It was like every emotion that Gwen had been trying to keep bottled up had came back to bite her in the ass. Seeing Peter- er Spider-man, risk his life to save whoever was trapped in that fire made her completely forget about the possibility that she lost all her months work. The only thing that mattered to her was him, and if he was going to make it out in one piece. So as the crowd cheered and yelled for their beloved superhero, all Gwen could do was grip onto her lab coat like it was the last thing she'd ever hold. The piercing sense of terror that ran through her veins burned more than that fire could until she saw a flash of red and blue make its way down from the building, carrying a man in his arms.

Through all the commotion, Gwen could barely make out who Peter had brought from the building, and just before she could catch a glimpse of the mysterious man who had been rescued an explosion roared above. Everyone's eyes turned up to see the windows on the south side of the building all shattered, with nothing but bright flames filling the holes.

The sight was mesmerizing, in a totally not cool kind of way. Everyone's eyes seemed to be locked onto the horrifying scene overhead, ignoring the choked sobs from the man behind. The scene felt as if time stopped; everything seemed to be moving in slow motion once a familiar red and blue suit stopped only a few yards in front of her. Her eyes wandered through the rows of people before landing on the ones hiding behind the honeycomb shades. Nobody knew who was concealed within the spandex, or whose eyes lingered under the wide and silver lenses. But Gwen knew, and although she couldn't physically see them behind the mask, she knew she was staring into those bright, chocolate irises that she adored.

Gwen came back to her senses once she felt a sudden tug on her arm, "Gwen?" Ethan peered over at her face, with his bushy browns furrowed with concern behind the curtain of sandy hair.

"I'm fine," she mumbled under her breath before picking up her pace. Gwen kept her eyes locked on the concrete, making sure to avoid his gaze as she followed the cracks in the sidewalk. The guilt that she kept buried inside of her came rushing back so quickly that it nearly overwhelmed her. It was like the usual waves of her bad conscience were now crashing into her like tsunami tides.

Ethan decided not to dig deeper into the question after her sudden that's-so-raven moment in the middle of East 72nd street, and settled with the decision to change the subject. His attempt at making conversation had no effect on Gwen, and it nearly bored her to death as they neared Central Park. Gwen's attention was entirely focused on nothing except Peter, and the way his whole demeanor changed once his eyes rested on Ethan's hand the moment he tapped her shoulder the day of the fire.

Ethan's dull story about how he killed nearly twenty spiders while doing his night shift in the basement of Oscorp did nothing but make her want to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. It was like the only thing that consumed Gwen's thoughts was how she wished she could take back that day in the school's hallway. Remorse was the only thing she felt whenever Ethan came into view. The one thing she regretted was pretending that she and her close friend were a couple just to make an ex jealous. And not just any ex, the ex. Peter.

Especially when it was also completely out of character for Gwen Stacy.

Once Ethan began his painfully detailed explanation of how exactly he managed to squash those bugs, Gwen decided that if one more word were to come out of his mouth she would surely go mad. She was on the brink of insanity and without a moment to herself, she was sure she'd result to ripping her hair out from the frustration. Once the pair reached the outskirts of the wide-ranged park, Gwen swiftly turned on her heel to face her chatterbox of a friend.

He stumbled over his feet slightly from the sudden halt and flicked his hazel eyes to meet the blue before him. The startled look in his eyes made Gwen's face soften as a faint smile appeared on her lips, her long eyelashes creating shadows on her eyelids each time she blinked. "Hey, um, I've had a really long day.." Gwen's tongue tripped over her words as she began, bringing her hand up to rub her other arm chastely before she continued. "Do you think I could have some time alone?"

Ethan's jaw clenched slightly before relaxing once he saw the hopeful smile spread across Gwen's face. "Of course," he rubbed the nape of his neck apprehensively as he nodded, agreeing with her after thinking back to the way she reacted to the question he asked her only minutes before.

"Thanks, and also thanks again for meeting up with me at the cafe. I don't know how long I would've been sitting there if you hadn't shown up!" the laugh that came after her words was plain, but she hid her false appearance behind a grateful smile.

"Hey, no problem Gwendy. But you call me later, alright?" He pointed an index finger at her with his left eyebrow raised so drastically that it nearly disappeared behind his hairline. His white teeth shined so bright that his smile was almost blinding to look at.

Gwen couldn't help but genuinely smile at the use of her childhood nickname, bringing back memories of their days spent playing together in the school playground. She nodded along with him as she began to turn and waved over her shoulder after the two exchanged their farewells. Once Ethan turned around and Gwen was out of sight, relief washed over her and she patted herself on the back for being able to pull off the whole facade in such a nonchalant manner.

Gwen past numerous amounts of people as she strolled down the busy street with her bag pressed tightly against her hip each time she wandered through small crowds to cross a street. She searched the sidewalk for anywhere to settle before her eyes landed on a perfectly sculpted wooden bench resting beneath a tree. Making her way towards the seat awaiting only a few yards away, Gwen began to scramble through the contents of her bag. After squeezing through a group of chattering teens standing beside a lamp post, she was finally able to take a seat on the lone bench.

She sat her bag down beside her and continued to rummage through the contents in search of her cell. Her hand grabbed almost every item before finally latching onto her phone and pulling it out. Gwen turned the small, white object over and over in her hand as she pondered the idea of giving a call to a certain boy. After minutes of arguing with herself in her head, Gwen subconsciously pressed her finger against the number 1 on her phone. She tried not to pay attention to the irony of having your late boyfriend the first on speed-dial.

The phone began to ring once she pressed it to her ear, her hands sweating excessively from the anxiety. It felt like minutes passed between each ring, making her want to smack herself for calling him more and more after every second. She hadn't decided whether this rash decision was a bad one or not and didn't even have a chance to come to a conclusion before hearing the ringing come to a halt, with nothing but silence on the other end once somebody picked up the phone.

Thirty seconds passed before somebody spoke - or was it three? Gwen couldn't tell from the sudden lightheaded sensation that overwhelmed her once she heard his voice, making her nearly topple over.

"Uhm.. hello?"

His voice was shaky, which made Gwen feel a little bit better knowing that he was just as nervous as she was.. or she hoped. Her hand grasped the phone tightly, with the other gripping onto the edge of the bench for support. The reality that he was sitting on the other line, waiting for her to answer, sunk in and made her stomach uneasy.

Gwen ran her tongue along her chapped lips before bringing her other hand to grasp the phone as well as she greeted him, "Hey Peter."

She swore she could hear him falling out of his seat once she spoke. She wondered if he had deleted her number, or if he was just shocked that she was actually calling. For what had been only a few weeks of not speaking to each other, felt like years. Gwen had seen Peter at school, or should I say caught a glimpse. The two kept their distance and tried not to make any contact whatsoever, which was probably why Peter could barely talk after answering the phone.

"Gwen?" Peter shouted into the phone, making Gwen have to remove it from her ear a few inches. "W-what's up?" His voice wavered into an almost whisper. Gwen could imagine Peter scratching the back of his head or rubbing his wrist like he always did whenever he was nervous.

She couldn't help but laugh at his stuttering, earning her a soft chuckle from the other end of the line. "I was just wondering how you were," she mentally slapped herself for stalling and not just saying what she had called him for, but she couldn't help the way her hands shook or stomach flipped whenever she thought about that damn ruffled mess on top of Peter's head that felt a lot softer than it already looked.

"Really?" His tone was playful and Gwen knew that goofy Peter Parker smile was beaming just behind the other end of the call.

"Actually- no," she exhaled out of her nose heavily before continuing and started to drum her thumb against her thigh anxiously, "I wanted to know where our friendly neighborhood Spider-man had disappeared to. I'm sure Manhattan really misses their favorite superhero." Gwen let out an over exaggerated giggle to hide how skittish she was feeling. Hoping that her simple question wouldn't ruin the somewhat decent conversation that was going on between the two.

Peter huffed into the phone, causing static to faintly emit through the speaker. "Well I'm sure the city can cope without him," the last word echoed from the phone as Peter's usually lighthearted voice mumbled grimly and emphasized his statement.

A sigh escaped from Gwen's lips as she closed her eyes, not believing a word that he was saying. She shook her head and took a deep breath, "Peter if this is because the fire-"

"Gwen, don't."

She was a bit taken aback from the sudden harshness that was lined in his tone; the way his lively attitude was so easily changed into something so gruff was aghast. "It wasn't your fault you know," she breathed out.

Muffled sounds could be heard on the other end of the line, and Gwen knew Peter was probably shaking his head, "I'm not doing this right now."

"Then when are you?" she instantly cut in with her tone raising slightly, earning her glances from nearby pedestrians. "I know you Peter," she raised her eyebrows once she heard him huff out irritatingly and continued, "and I know that you're blaming yourself just like after my.. dad." Gwen gulped as she hesitated before letting the last word roll off her tongue.

Peter scoffed, "I am not, Gwen." She rolled her eyes knowingly, Gwen could see right through this act. She just wished that he could be honest with her, and that they didn't end up arguing only minutes into a conversation. It was exhausting, and so excruciatingly dreadful, to watch him put the weight of the world on his shoulders. If Gwen could do anything to take away the pain that came with the responsibility of being Spider-man she would do it, no matter the cost.

"Really, hm? So tell me, why isn't Spider-man out doing what he does best and pissing off the police?" A dry chuckle erupted from her phone at her comment before slowly dying out, causing a small smirk to curl on Gwen's lips.

Seconds past, nearly a minute of nothing but silence between the two, before Peter finally replied, "I could go out if I wanted to."

"I don't believe that," she taunted him doubtfully and tapped her finger against her phone. Her patience was beginning to run low with his denial at an all time high.

"Really? Watch me."

And with that, a faint click could be heard and then.. nothing. Gwen scoffed in disbelief that he would just hang up on her like that. Staring at the disconnected call on her phone, she furrowed her brows so tightly that they nearly smashed together. She instantly pressed the lock button and stashed it back into the front pocket of her jacket with an inaudible curse word being mumbled under her breath.

Gwen roughly threw her bag over her shoulder, groaning once a few strands of golden locks got caught beneath the strap once she stood up. After pulling her hair free of her bag's harness, she began marching down the street furiously. She looked as if she was going to bite someone's head off as she wedged her way through the jam-packed sidewalk. Not being able to focus on her path whilst her mind wondered about what Peter could have meant, Gwen bumped into and stumbled over passing pedestrians.

It wasn't like this was the first time Peter had removed himself from a conversation with her, and she knew she shouldn't have even been so surprised that he did. Just like that day in the hall, Gwen had said or done something that got in Peter's hair, so he stormed off like a child before having a chance to actually blow up on her. Although, she was grateful that he still cared enough not to take his anger out on her.

The wind began to pick up and it was sweeping the hem of Gwen's navy skirt up sightly, which only added to her frustration as she pressed her hand against the fabric to hold it down. A few inches of bare skin was exposed above the dark gray stockings that she wore under her knee-high boots; goosebumps chilling her body once the cold air breezed along her creamy skin. She turned to look up at the sky, her eyes squinting as they gazed at the bright pink and orange hues that shone from behind the towering skyscrapers.

Police cars sped past once the sun finally set over the horizon, with the blinding red and blue lights illuminating the streets. A chill ran up Gwen's spine at the blaring sirens that raced down the street, memories of riding in the back of her father's police car running through her mind. The noise bringing back the countless times of where she was caught holding hands with a boy or staying out too late; the momentous times that earned her a long car ride home from her overprotective dad.

Her minutes of reminiscing were quickly interrupted by clapping and cheers from people behind her. The applause made her raise an eyebrow as she tilted her head up, only to see a man clad in red and blue swinging overhead. Her eyes widened as she watched whilst Spider-man thrust himself from web to web, yelling out in joy with each transition.

"Peter?" Gwen's jaw dropped, in disbelief that Peter had actually come out in the suit just to get back at her. The sea of blue and white that usually filled her beautifully wide eyes were now barely recognizable as they narrowed into small slits; her scowl following each time the masked hero grasped onto a new crystalline cable.

A loud screech could be heard as the cop cars reared around the corner with Spider-man following closely behind. With the web-swinger on their tail, they all disappeared as they chased after a bulky man dressed head-to-toe in all black who sprinted through alleyways.

Gwen stood on her toes to look over the heads of the gawking pedestrians before grasping her hand around her bag tightly, and making her way through the crowd. Not caring who she shoved or stumbled into, Gwen picked up her pace and started jogging. Her powder blue coat flapped in the wind whilst rushing to make her way towards the commotion - thanking god for the 'no heel' boots as she sprinted through the intersection. The cold breeze felt like ice against her skin once it past through the thin fabric of her gray sweater and over its white collar.

Once making it around the corner, Gwen gawked at the numerous police cars that surrounded two men in the middle of the street; one had his gloved hand clutching the collar of the other, pulling him closer with his clenched fist raised in preparation for a right hook to the criminal's jaw.

She inched closer before coming to a halt once the fugitive's piercing glare shifted its way over to meet Gwen's. The corners of his lips curved up, until his bright yellow teeth showed, a sinister smile forming across his beefy face just before disappearing as Spider-man tightened his grip on the jacket's collar.

"Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!"

The police men swiftly got out of their cars and crouched behind the doors for refuge, their 9mm service pistols threatening to shoot if Spider-man and the convict didn't follow orders. Their belts clinked as they shifted into position; the deep navy of their uniforms nearly invisible with the night acting as their camouflage.

A helicopter reared above whilst gusts of wind breezed down the alley from the speed of the propellers. The pair standing in the center of the circle were clearly visible with the headlights illuminating their features. The felon's dark attire could have been easily overlooked beside the radiant superhero dressed vividly in red and blue.

Spider-man released his grip on the criminal, who had lost his balance and stumbled to the concrete from the sudden release, and strutted towards one of the cars. The cocky persona of the famous superhero always surprised Gwen; when outside of the spandex Peter Parker was just the shy, lovable photographer who had always gotten written up for riding his skateboard around the school's halls. It was like as soon as he stepped into the suit, Peter was no longer the lanky and misunderstood boy that got picked on in school. This definitely showed when Spider-man plopped himself on the hood of a police car, making the men's harsh figures waver slightly.

"Hey boys! Long time no see, eh?" Peter crossed his legs arrogantly, resting his gloved hands on his knee before continuing. "I don't suppose you actually plan on arresting me.." he chuckled under his breath and jumped off the hood. He dauntlessly paid no attention to the multiple guns pointing in his direction, ready to fire at any moment, whilst making his way back towards the middle. "am I right? 'Cause I thought we were really starting to enjoy this cat and mouse game we got goin' on," the stunningly confident vigilante's sarcasm echoed through the street. A dazzling grin was surely planted on his face by the way his words rolled off his tongue in that joking manner that Gwen knew and loved.

There he was, the teenage boy that was always too self-conscious to say even two words to his high school crush less than a year ago, was standing in the middle of the street as the police men's prime target without showing any sign of fear.

"We don't have time for your humor, _kid_," one of the officers spoke up, emphasizing the last word with his scornful glower following Spider-man's movements as his sentence rolled off his tongue in a low hiss.

"Why does everybody keep calling kid?" Peter's voice raised slightly as he spoke, snapping his fingers sarcastically before beginning to make his way over towards the grim-looking police officer, "You know it's really degrading-" Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, shots were instantly fired from all around him.

Gwen watched in fear whilst bullets were fired all around; a fearful squeak erupted from her as she watched Spider-man move his body so swiftly that she could barely keep her eyes on him. "Hey, hey- HEY!" was all that could be heard through the gun's smoke as Peter dodged each bullet with ease, with Gwen cringing only yards away with each click of their triggers. Regret started building up in the pit of her stomach, and she felt that at any moment she was going to puke. She wished that she hadn't called Peter, if only she hadn't brought up the fire, if only she hadn't nagged him about ditching the suit, if only. It was her fault he was caught up in all of this, it was all her fault and fragile little Gwen Stacy knew she couldn't do anything about it.

As the shots finally calmed, Gwen watched in anticipation as the smoke slowly faded, revealing a crouched Spider-man sitting beside a terrified criminal cowering on the pavement. Within seconds of their visions being cleared, Peter angrily shot up and slowly marched over towards the one officer who had spoken up. He huffed out and fired a web, furiously tugging on it once it latched onto the pistol, "Really? You say nothing but maybe six or seven words to me before trying to _kill me_? _Without any warning_?"

The dark skinned man jolted up once the gun was ripped from his grip, and with his only protection taken from his bare hands, his whole demeanor began to tremble slightly. Flinching each time his gaze met the silver honeycombs on Spider-man's mask, the officer gulped deeply before speaking, "We have another warrant for your arrest.. for the murder of Police Captain George Stacy."

Gwen sucked in air at the sound of her deceased father's name which caught Peter's attention once her gasp echoed through the air. There was nothing but dead silence lingering; you could hear a pin drop in between everyone's hitched breaths. Gwen looked around, her wide eyes moving from each individual person. It seemed that even the frightened felon who was cowering on the ground beneath the shocked superhero didn't even see this coming.

"No! Stop!"

The police officer's turned their heads once Gwen shouted, each of them relaxing once they recognized the late Captain's daughter sprinting over towards them. She made her way towards the cop standing with his index finger only feet away from Spider-man's chest, with her bag slapping against her hip with each step. His furrowed brows and prominent jawline looked familiar as she rested beside him, recognizing the rigid face of her father's old friend, Officer Williams. Each man kept their eyes on her, minus the new Captain who refused to acknowledge her existence.

His gaze shifted over to the small girl beside him before rolling his eyes, "Get out of here Gwen."

"I know what happened that night with Conners," Gwen brushed her fringe from her eyes and inched closer towards him with determination laced in her words, "and I know that Spider-man only helped my father. He's innocent Officer, you have to believe me!"

"I never hurt Gwen's da- I mean, Captain Stacy. I honestly have no idea what you're talking ab-"

Officer Williams cut them both off before they could continue, his deep voice booming as he shouted, "Enough!" Gwen staggered back slightly, his sudden outburst startling her. He huffed out heavily with the condensation showing in his breath. "Gwendolyn, I don't believe your father would want you sticking up for this _insect._" Williams spat the last word and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, with spit spraying as he spoke.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Gwen shoved her forearms against him, which only earned her a piercing glare. She refused to let these men believe that her own father's death was an innocent man's fault. Gwen knew that Peter would never lay a hand on her father, sure they would get into heated disagreements whilst eating her mom's branzino, but he would never go as far as to harm him. It was bad enough that Peter blamed himself, now it was the whole police force pinning Captain Stacy's decease against him.

"Spider-man, I suggest you put your hands behind your head or we have permission to fire!"

"Spider-man!" Gwen shouted once Officer Williams wrapped his fingers roughly around her arm. Everyone paused once Peter turned his head and focused his eyes a her, a faint grin spread across his face once his eyes locked onto her mischievous smirk. She hesitated, taking in the silky spandex and cracked lenses whilst imagining what his ruffled face must've looked like beneath the mask, before mouthing for him to go. Peter immediately followed her orders and with a flick of his wrist, he took off.

Shots were fired as Spider-man swung towards a building, whilst Officer Williams tugged on Gwen. His grip tightened around her slim arm as he dragged her with him towards his police car, mumbling cuss words under his breath furiously once Spider-man disappeared behind a local boutique. "I'm taking you home. You shouldn't have been here," he scolded her and opened car's back door before shoving her inside.

Gwen landed on the seat with a _thud_ before having her bag thrown in the back along with her. She ignored the rough behavior and dirty looks from the police men and clutched her chest. Peter was only seconds away from being arrested, meaning his identity, his everything would be revealed. Gwen couldn't help but scold herself for causing this in the first place, if she had just kept her mouth shut and ignored the curiosity from his absence none of this would've happened. Trying to catch her breath from the events only minutes before, Gwen kept her gaze locked on the corner where Spider-man successfully escaped.

Fumbling through the contents of her bag, Gwen searched for her cell, hoping that when she called Peter everything would be alright. She paid no attention to the snide comments that Williams made as he and the other policemen backed out of the alley, only keeping herself focused on whether or not Peter managed to escape the hundreds of bullets that were shot at him without a scratch.

The phone rang multiple times before going directly to voice mail. This happened repeatedly, with each attempt failing once the operator's emotionless tone came through her speaker, explaining that 212-555-2738 couldn't come to the phone at the moment and to leave a message Gwen should wait til after the beep. "Come on.. come on.." Gwen groaned as she smacked her phone when she was taken to Peter's voice mail once again.

Within minutes, Williams' car came to a stop just outside of Gwen's apartment complex, with a sigh of relief coming from somewhere in the backseat. It only took seconds for him to hop out and open the door for her to exit, with the grim look still planted firmly on his face. "I hope you know," his voice lowered as Gwen eagerly got out with her bag gripped securely in hand, "I expected that you out of all people would want to put the man who killed your father behind bars for good."

Her lips curled up in a disgusted snarl once his warm breath hit her ear. She brushed herself off and stepped onto the curb, before stopped to looked over her shoulder. "Curt Conners is already behind bars," and with that said, Gwen held her chin up high as she made her way into the building.

Once Officer Williams was out of sight, Gwen quickly pulled her phone out of her front pocket and dialed the same number again. "Peter please pick up.." she repeated to herself under her breath as she stepped into the elevator. Her silent prayers must have been ignored, because after about six rings, the call went to voice mail yet again. "Damn it!" Gwen mumbled as she stepped out into the hall once she reached her floor, with the phone still nudged in between her ear and shoulder whilst searching for her keys.

Only a few doors from her apartment, the beep echoed into her ear signaling for her to start her voice mail. "Hey Peter, it's Gwen and I'm really worried about you since the.. _yanno._ So it'd be really great if you picked up your phone for once in your life," Gwen laughed anxiously whilst jamming her key into the lock, "Just please call me back once you get this me-"

Her phone fell to the floor once she stepped in through the door. The bag slid down her arm and onto the carpet, but she paid no attention to it once her eyes caught a hold of the sight before her.

Sitting on the couch and chairs in her living room was her family chatting away happily. However, the usual four that were normally watching the news at this time of night, was now an odd five. Once the door slammed behind her, everyone turned to look up at their oldest sister and daughter with beaming smiles glued to their faces. Gwen's eyes flicked from each face before lingering on a familiar one that she hadn't seen in nearly a year.

Tears stung the back of her eyes once the mysterious man stood up to face her, with arms wide awaiting a long overdue hug. The dial tone rang from her phone resting beside her feet, as all five Stacy's watched her facial expressions in anticipation.

"Dad?"

* * *

**Author's note: **I am so unbelievably sorry that it took me so long to update, I've had a major case of writer's block ever since summer started. This chapter was especially hard for me to write for some reason, and as you can tell near the ending I sort of got a bit lazy. I'm going to try my best to start updating much quicker than it took for me to get this chapter out. I hope you enjoy my twist at the end, by the way. (winky-face)


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